03 In The Light
by The Outcasts
Summary: During a regular patrol mission in Robotropolis a massive earthquake hits, destroying most of the city and causes Bunnie to go missing. But is there more to this earthquake than meets the eye? now in chapter format
1. Default Chapter

In The Light - A Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfiction by The Outcasts.

Author's Note: Hello. So glad you can make it once again. Nothing to special about this fic worth mentioning, except that this story is a sort of adaptation to the SatAM episode "Warp Sonic". I did this because I can, so there.

The character Kaitlyn is actually a twisted version of my original character (and alias) Blaze, whose middle name is actually Kaitlyn. No, Kaitlyn is not a Mary-Sue, she's just a character I wanted to include. This is probably as close as I'll get to inserting myself into my fics.

But yes, Kaitlyn belongs to me. So if you want to use her ask first.

One more quick note, (sorry ;) my stories don't follow the SatAM show, or the Archie Comics, but they are BASED off these two universes. And don't worry, they don't follow the Fleetway comics either (not that there's anything wrong with that.) but I may use some references from them. (meaning I take what I like and twist it until I like it even more)

Sonic the Hedgehog and other related characters (except the minor insert, she belongs to me) are copyright to Sega, Sonic Team and Archie Comics. I don't own them, someone else does. The fanfiction itself is copyright to me, because I'm evil and greedy.

BUT the beginning of this fic belongs to NetRaptor, as she wrote it for her fanfic competition. I did this for my last fic, I know I know. I tried to avoid doing this again, especially because this isn't fair not coming up with my own beginnings, but the idea literally exploded in my head, all because I kept dwelling on the new teasers NetRaptor had put on her site. I'm ashamed, you can scowl me later. (whimpers)

Be sure to take a look at the contest for yourself, though. and this won't make sense unless you read my other fics first. Go read, now. Now!

Hug a fox cub today.

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In The Light  
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I wanna be in the Light  
as You are in the Light  
I wanna shine like the stars  
in the Heavens  
Oh, Lord be my light  
and be my Salvation  
'cause all I want is to be in the Light  
All I want is to be in the Light  
DC Talk - In The Light  
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Sally's fingers raced across Nicole's keyboard. She had a grave look on her face as she downloaded words from her brain to the computer before her. She had been keeping a log of recent events and was updating it.

_"December 18th. Robotropolis has been devastated. It is the first time we have been able to spare Sonic, and his report was startling. Most of the big buildings are down. No factories are running. All power is out. The robots--even SWATbots--are wandering around with no orders._

_"We heard the earthquake was a 9.2, then heard later it was a 5.4. It sure wrecked Knothole, whatever it was. We have no electricity and no running water. Many of our huts collapsed. There is one dead and fourteen injured, and we are preparing for aftershocks."_

Sally leaned back and ran one hand through her hair. Nicole, being battery-operated, was the only computer for miles that worked. From her position on the ground she could see across the village. Freedom Fighters and villagers alike were poking through the rubble, looking for anything worth keeping. Everyone was in a sort of daze.

The earthquake had struck the previous afternoon. No one had rested much since then, and were living in terror of the inevitable aftershocks.

"Sonic," someone called. Sally turned to see Tails, a bandage wound around his head, standing unsteadily beside a tree.

Sally jumped up and went to him. "Tails, you shouldn't be up. Go lie down."

Tails let himself be turned and escorted back to where the other injured people were. "But where's Sonic?"

"He went to Robotropolis."

"Why?"

"Because--" Sally stopped and swallowed her words. Sonic had asked her not to tell Tails. "Just because," she finished.

Tails gave her a cold, somewhat superior look. "They're looking for Bunnie, huh?"

Sally was startled. "How did you know?"

"I may have a concussion, but I'm not stupid," said Tails. "He's been worrying ever since he saw what happened to Robotropolis."

That was true. Everyone was worried, but it seemed Sonic was channelling it all. Usually Sonic was the one reassuring everyone, telling them it would be fine; but now it seemed that even their reassurance to the hedgehog was falling on deaf ears, and always seemed deadpan in his encouragement.

Sonic's reports of the damaged Robotropolis combined with his attitude made the situation so much bleaker than first thought.

"Do you think Aunt Bunnie will be all right, Aunt Sally?" Tails questioned as Sally placed him in one of the empty cots outside the infirmary. From the corner of her eye Sally could see nurses and doctors standing by the other cots, monitoring the Mobians that were injured from the earthquake.

"I'm sure of it," Sally said. "You know Sonic would never let anything bad happen to any of us."

That was more of a reassurance for herself than Tails.

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The damage was unbelievable.

Busted pipes laid about the wreck bleeding dirty water, buildings were nothing more but piles of dust and broken bricks. Most of them had collapsed onto themselves, some even going one step further by collapsing into their foundations. The air reeked of a toxic cocktail.

Usually such a sight would have brought joy to Sonic, but as he stood there on that hill surveying it all, it only caused his heart to sink to the pit of his stomach. Especially knowing that somewhere in the midst of the chaos Bunnie was in there, probably trapped under tons of rubble, or lost and injured; maybe even bleeding slowly to her death while delirious from the pain...

Sonic shook those thoughts forcefully from his mind. No, now was not the time to be thinking like that. What mattered was finding Bunnie, then worry about all those thoughts if they are true.

After tearing his gaze from the disastrous view Sonic raced down to the city, his heart sinking lower the closer he got. He had seen the damage up close a few times already, but it did not make it any less heart aching. Without realising it Sonic's mind wandered back into the village. The damage from the earthquake was almost as bad as it was here. A lot of the trees were uprooted from the breaking earth, now lying in the middle of the forest, some even in the middle of the village, slowly dying. The thought of the ruined trees branched Sonic's thoughts to the one casualty of the disaster, an old sheep whom was literally crushed under a large oak tree, then continued to make Sonic wonder if Bunnie was in the same situation.

It was enough to startle Sonic into a faster pace, until everything around him blurred. He needed to stop these thoughts getting into his head. Sonic tried to distract himself by focussing on his search. From Bunnie's last transmission she was somewhere to the west of Robotropolis. It was a general clue, but the only one he had to the cyborg rabbit's location. This was the first time Sonic was allowed to go looking for Bunnie alone, seeing as Sally was still worried about his state of health. It took a lot of work to convince Sally to let him go, at least once while a proper search party could be banded together. So here he was now, equipped with an old two-way radio unit and a first-aid kit, just in case he did find Bunnie and she was injured.

As he ran Sonic could not help but stare at all the SWATbots wandering about like zombies. None of them seemed to notice the hedgehog, and if he was in his usual cocky mood Sonic would have taken advantage of the situation. But instead Sonic kept heading west, his sight set straight ahead. Briefly Sonic wondered where Robotnik was in all this. Most likely nestled safely somewhere deeper in his fortress, he reasoned.

"Bunnie!" he called as he ran, his voice sounding oddly loud in the stillness. It almost felt like he was the last Mobian on the planet.

"Bunnie!" The thought scared him, making his heart skip a beat. Oh why did Bunnie have to take his place? Of all the days...

"Bunnie, please answer me!" His voice choked up, Sonic had to cough to clear the lump in his throat.

"Bunnie! Bunnie! Bu-- Oh Chaos..."

Sonic stopped dead. He had arrived at the western regions of the city. There was nothing left but debris; debris as far as the eye could see. The smell of toxic was much worse here. The damage made it look like a bomb had hit after a tornado. It was so breathtaking Sonic had to lean against a small wall, the one thing that bordered the chaos from the calm, just so he could take it all in.

Sonic didn't even realise he was trembling as he began the gruelling walk into the heart of the chaos.

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The sound of dripping water echoed around her head.

When the sound became irritating enough lavender-coloured eyelids fluttered open, exposing to their owner a world of darkness. For a moment she could not remember where she was.

Bunnie lay in the position she woke in for what felt like hours, allowing her thoughts to gather together like the dust that still snowed down on her. Then she remembered everything. It was that morning; at least she hoped it was that morning still, which she had volunteered to take Sonic's place for his routine patrol of Robotropolis. The hedgehog was still recovering from his illness he had contracted two weeks before and Sally did not want him to do any work, even a simple patrol for a few hours, until he had fully recovered. Sonic had protested, but in the end Sally had won the battle and Sonic reluctantly agreed to the arrangement. Then the earthquake hit an hour before Bunnie's patrol was finished, and now she was... where exactly?

She looked at her surroundings, her vision finally, but just barely, adjusting to the dim lighting. With a start Bunnie found that she was pinned to the ground by a heavy steel beam, which was further weighed down by broken bricks and concrete. The dripping water Bunnie could hear was coming from an overhead pipe, the droplets about five centimetres from her head.

Bunnie's throat felt dry, the dripping making it tighten with thirst.

With a grunt Bunnie pushed herself up with her right arm, trying to ignore the aching protests her natural body cried out as she moved, and prepared to push the burdensome beam off before it crushed her. But when she moved her left arm Bunnie discovered, to her horror, she could not. The horror increased when she found that she could not feel her arm at all.

Her breathing quicken, her heartbeat following its example. Without her arm she would not be able to get herself out of the rubble. Bunnie was fairly dependent on her robotized arm, despite the emotional pain that it brought with it over the years. No matter what her robotic limbs always seemed to bring her more grief and stress.

Hesitantly she tried moving her legs, but they had been completely buried in debris, enough debris to actually put pressure on her legs so that she could barely wiggle her toes. But she could still feel them, which was a great relief.

Bunnie laid her head back, watching the faint outline of the water drops as they dripped. She wondered if she could drink the water, how long she had been there for, and how long would it be before someone found her.

"'hey'll find me, in less 'han a couplah houahs. Ah know 'hey will," she coaxed herself, finding mild comfort in hearing her own voice in the silence.

Drip, drip, drip...

Bunnie also wondered how long it would be before the sound of the dripping water drove her insane.

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A few miles towards the east of Robotropolis a strange activity could be witnessed, for it appeared that something, or someone, was digging from below the ground. A hole soon appeared, formed from a pair of clawed hands. The same hands rested themselves on the edges of the hole, before pulling out the body attached to them.

Once the body's feet had touched the ground it began dusting off its hands, eventually settling them onto its hips as it stared at its surroundings. With a small squeal of excitement, and a slight jump to emphasise it, the figure started wandering around, every so often stopping to swoop down and examine something that had caught its eye.

After about five minutes the figure's head suddenly snapped up and it paused, body still as it listened. A different sort of gasp from before escaped its lips, and after pocketing something the figure dove for the hole it had dug moments ago. Once it was in the hole the figure's hand reached out and grabbed a nearby sheet of rusted metal to cover the hole.

No other evidence was found from the strange figure.

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Sonic had been digging through massive piles of rubble for hours now. His gloves were torn in several places, and dirty from both dust and blood from the few cuts he obtained through his work. Most of his fur was full of dust, making it look like he had patches of natural white in his pelt. Sweat beaded around his forehead, stinging his eyes.

But he never stopped even for a second to wipe them away. Every second counted, according to Sonic, to find Bunnie before any aftershocks occurred. Sally had warned Sonic about the possible aftershocks saying that they could be worse than the earthquake itself. Sonic did not want to be around to witness how much worse, nor did he want one to happen before he found Bunnie.

In-between every fistful of debris he pushed away Sonic begged for every God and Goddess he knew about to delay the aftershocks, and to find Bunnie safe.

Once he had ploughed through the pile he was working on Sonic growled with frustration and ran for another, one step away from diving into it headfirst. In seconds large chunks of concrete started flying about, bricks and pieces of metal treated in a similar manner. Sonic grabbed pieces of debris one after the other, working like a machine without thought, his strength granted from his mutation making short work of the pile. When that labour proved fruitless Sonic pushed himself away from it and began searching for a new one to attack. This was the basic routine he had been sticking to for all those hours.

Soon Sonic felt his strength withering away as his muscles shook and ached with fatigue. As he dug Sonic began to slowly sink to his knees, until he was lying face-first in the rubble, breathing hard and shaking all over. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach, which had started cramping up, and his whole body felt cold. He wanted to keep going, but somehow he could not will himself to do so.

Sonic rolled over onto his back, being careful not to roll onto anything sharp or rusty, and tried to calm down. Doctor Quack had told Sonic to do this whenever he started feeling ill after any form of stress, just so the strange chemical in him could not get a chance to go through his body completely. And the last thing Sonic wanted was to end up in the hospital for any amount of time, especially now.

"It's so quiet," he murmured as he lay there, staring straight at the sky. Even without any proper life forms in Robotropolis the dark city was never quiet. Sonic closed his eyes and smirked a little. One good thing came out of the earthquake at least: most of Robotropolis was destroyed, including the site for the Doomsday Device's satellite. By the time Robotnik got everything functioning he would be far too behind in his schedule for the release of the device, and the Freedom Fighters would have more time to plan counter attacks. Or at least recover from the earthquake.

The silence was shattered by a tiny rumbling sound. Sonic's ears cocked up, trying to determine where the sound came from. The sound occurred again. Sonic sat up, looking around, body tensed and ready for anything. Under him Sonic felt the rubble he was sitting on shake a little. Then the shaking began building up, gaining ferocity until everything around Sonic began to shake. It was an aftershock, Sonic realised.

Panicked Sonic jumped up to his feet and ran from where he was, hoping to find some open space without anything that could harm him during the aftershock. But as he ran the quake worsened, not allowing Sonic to balance himself on the ground to run. He fell several times, each time being tossed about before he was able to get to his feet again, until the quake really began to shake up the city.

Sonic did not even see the tall pile of debris falling towards him until it was almost on top of him.

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Bunnie's eyes snapped open when she felt the beginnings of the aftershock. She had dozed off hours earlier to escape the throbbing pain from her body, and the reality of not being able to pull herself out of her entrapment. But now she had no idea how long she had been asleep, or what was going on.

She lay still, listening, as the shaking grew faster and violent. More dust rained down on her, getting in her eyes, ears, and even up her nose. She sneezed it out, feeling her eyes water over. The debris on top of her shifted down, pressing harder against her body and causing her to gasp as something pressed against her chest. The shaking continued, making more debris rain down on Bunnie, some rather large rocks falling dangerously close to her head and inactive arm.

Then she felt her heart freeze in her chest as a loud cracking sound ripped through her ears. The faint outline of the ground splitting open next to her jump-started her heart again. The splitting trailed towards her, rippling the earth underneath her and breaking it apart. A thunderous roar enveloped her as the ground yawned opened, swallowing the debris along with her into its depths. Bunnie was freefalling now, but the fall was short-lived. Abruptly she hit another layer of earth, her head striking a sharp rock and knocking her out-cold. The debris still fell, burying the rabbit.

An hour after the aftershock dwindled away Bunnie was still unconscious, the head wound received from the rock bleeding slowly. From the shadows several glowering eyes focussed on the scene.

Then, one by one they moved closer to her.

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Back in Knothole the rocking sensations of the aftershock in Robotropolis were echoing through the village. Because it was now dark out the fear factor of all the villagers were at their highest, so as soon as the trees started swaying with the shock everyone began panicking and took cover wherever they could. In the infirmary the nurses rushed around to calm the patients that had awakened either from the screams heard from outside or the aftershock's effects.

Sally sat with Tails in his cot, allowing the fox to huddle close to her as the mild quake shook its course. On Sally's lap Nicole sat opened, analysing the reason for why the aftershock seemed so weak here. Only one explanation was found: another earthquake, one much larger than before, had hit Robotropolis.

Sally bit at her bottom lip as she read over Nicole's recordings of the quake, Tails also watching. Sally noted that the aftershock seemed out of sync; usually an aftershock would occur a few hours after the main earthquake, or even a day. But it had been almost two days now.

"Sonic's still in Robotropolis, right?" he questioned, startling Sally out of her trance. She nodded.

"Better see if he's all right, and if he's found Bunnie," she murmured, reaching down for her radio. The quake should be over by now, so it should not be too hard to reach Sonic, Sally thought to herself.

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A large pile of debris exploded from the inside, sending pieces of it flying in several directions. Moments passed before the onslaught stopped, and slowly, almost painfully Sonic pulled himself out.

He fell to the floor, his arms unable to hold him up for long, and lay where he landed as limp as road kill.

"I can tell today's not gonna be my day," Sonic groaned as he held his head, where a large cut was located. Already the blood from the wound had run over his face and eyes, staining his fur and stinging his eyes. Some blood had reached his mouth, and he could taste the coppery bitterness. Most of his back was peppered with bruises, due to the fact that he had rolled himself into a ball to protect himself from the falling debris at the last second. He looked a ghostly white from the dust that had collected on his fur, but at the moment he couldn't care less about his appearance.

_"Sonic. Sonic can you hear me?"_ a voice called, sounding static and so far away to the hedgehog. Grunting from the pain as he lifted himself up, Sonic tried to locate the voice. After a while he realised that it was coming from inside the pile he had just dug himself from and peered inside. At first he thought that it might have been Bunnie, until he found his backpack, where the voice was coming in through his radio. Sonic had managed to take off his backpack and curled himself around it, but it still managed to take some damage. Which explained why the radio transmission sounded so static.

Sonic reached into his backpack and pulled out the small radio, giving it a hearty shake to clear any dust from it and clicked on the receiver.

"Sal? That you?" he croaked. His voice was dry, and it hurt to speak. Now he realised how thirsty he felt, and exhausted.

_"Yeah, it's me,"_ Sally responded, relief reflected in her voice. _"Are you all right?"_

Sonic nodded, then remembered that Sally could not see him. But he really did not feel like talking. "Yeah, got hit by some debris, but I'm fine," he said, forcing himself to speak. There was silence for a moment from Sally's side.

_"You don't sound fine to me. Head home, we've got a search group together. Unless you've found Bunnie,"_ Sally informed. Sonic coughed, some dust tickling at his throat.

"No way, Sal. I haven't found her yet and I'm not coming home until I do," he stated once he had controlled his coughing.

_"Sonic, your time is up. You were only meant to be out there for two hours, and you've been gone for over four. Report home now, the search team will help us find Bunnie."_ Sally's voice had taken on a very serious tone, one she only used when she was giving out strict orders. Not that it fazed Sonic one bit.

"Sally, I'm not--"

_"That's an order, if you're not home within the next hour I'm coming after you,"_

That fazed Sonic. Sighing Sonic muttered, "Yes Princess," and signed off.

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A pair of eyes stared down at Bunnie's form, careful to look at every part of her body. The eyes' owner soon crept closer until it was right next to Bunnie and took a closer look.

"I think she's dead," they yelled out, turning to face the crowd of shadows behind it.

"You idiot, you didn't check properly," another voice scowled, sounding all the part of a leader. This figure stepped forward and shoved the first away from Bunnie, then crouched down and grabbed Bunnie's wrist betwixt its thumb and forefinger. There was a pause from sound.

"She's still alive," the figure breathed, instantly jumping away from the cyborg. A similar reaction waved through the other shadowed figures, save for one. It was a while until any of the shadows were brave enough to step up to Bunnie again.

"Where'd she come for? And what's with that weird armour on her legs and arm?"

"I have no idea about where she came from, but I bet her armour's pretty valuable. I wonder if it can come off?" The speaker bent over Bunnie and began frisking their fingers over Bunnie's arm, looking for anything that resembled a latch. They only stopped when a small voice coughed for their attention. All eyes turned to the one shadow that kept its distance from the group.

"Yes? What do you want now?" the leader demanded. The shadow shuffled its feet nervously, taking a great interest towards their shoes all of a sudden.

"Um... don't you think we should... maybe take her to the clinic? She's kinda... bleeding a bit there," the figure answered in a low voice, pointing to Bunnie's injury as it spoke. The leader glanced at the wound for a moment, then scowled at the shadow.

"Well why didn't you say something earlier? Honestly you're useless, Kaitlyn!"

The shadow, now identified as Kaitlyn, bowed her head and sighed to herself, twisting her hands in a jittery fashion. She only lifted her head to watch as the group lifted Bunnie from her arms and legs and began leading her down the tunnel, the leader shooting off instructions. Kaitlyn hesitated a moment before following.

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_"December 16th. Over four hours ago a wave of aftershocks was reported going through Robotropolis. They reached Knothole, but somehow they were not as violent as expected. In fact they were quite weak. According to what Sonic reported that was not the case in the city. "We were able to gather a small search party to send into Robotropolis and look for Bunnie, but so far they haven't reported anything. Sonic returned to Knothole completely exhausted and dehydrated. Doctor Quack felt it would be best to put him on an I.V overnight so he would not get sick from the stress. I'm guessing the last thing Sonic wants is to get sick while Bunnie's still missing, if anything that would make things worse. I know I'm starting to get sick with worry."_ Sally began rubbing at her eyes as she slumped back against the wall. It was roughly one in the morning, and yet somehow she could not sleep. It did not surprise her much, but even Sally knew two days without sleep was not good, especially during a time of need.

Sally checked the battery gauge on Nicole's screen before deactivating her, making a mental note to grab a new battery cartridge in the morning, then looked towards the cot she was sitting next to. Sonic was curled up in a loose ball on the cot, sound asleep. The dust that was still in his fur made him appear a ghostly white, at the same time allowing what bleeding cuts he had obtained during his expedition stand out. His hands were heavy bandaged, callous from digging through so much debris, and an I.V needle was inserted into his right wrist, held in place with more gauze and pumping a mixture of Sodium Chloride water and the counteragent for the chemical that caused Sonic's Sleeping Sickness, for reassurance.

Beside him was Tails, also curled up in a loose ball and using Sonic as a living pillow, his two tails spread over him like a furry blanket. Tails did not want to admit, at least in front of Sonic, that he was afraid of the possible aftershocks and wanted to stick close to someone while he was sleeping. Sonic was, of course, first choice. Luckily the cot Sonic was using was large enough to fit two to three Mobians on it at once, as it was made for a larger Mobian that was previously checked in the infirmary.

"How are they doing?" a voice asked. Sally lifted her head towards the voice, realising that it was Uncle Chuck that had spoken. Sally's eyes fell onto the faint dents that peppered parts of the robotic hedgehog's body. Uncle Chuck was in his hideaway during the first earthquake, but had managed to escape with little harm. What injuries he did get were not serious and easy to repair. Beside him was a non-morphic robotized beagle, who Uncle Chuck was using as a sort of support. The dog's robotized state gave it the strength to put up with the task. When the robotized duo reached Sally Uncle Chuck allowed the dog to continue forward without him, on which the dog came closer to Sally and nudged its head under her hand.

"Hello, Muttski," Sally greeted before addressing Uncle Chuck. "Well Tails seems okay, the headaches have stopped now so he should be able to rest easier. Though Sonic doesn't seem to be handling the situation as well as he usually would, if this keeps up he's going to make himself sick again."

Uncle Chuck shook his head quietly. "I'm surprised you managed to make him sleep for more than five minutes," he commented.

"That wasn't hard, he was completely exhausted by the time he got home. But then at the same time he didn't put up much of a fight, which strangely enough is worrying."

"He'll be fine after some rest, don't worry. Though it might be a good idea if you got some sleep yourself," Uncle Chuck suggested. Sally gave a short laugh but nodded.

"I'll see what I can do."

It was at that point when the door to the Infirmary creaked open. Both Mobians lifted their heads towards the sound, spotting Rotor as he walked in. When the walrus saw that they were watching him he gave a shy smile and began making his way to them.

"Good, you're still awake, Sally," Rotor started when he reached her. On close inspection Sally could see the layers of dirt and grime that soiled his skin. At the moment Rotor was wringing a piece of cloth through his flipper-like fingers to clean them. Under his armpit was what appeared to be a metal pipe.

"I've managed to get the water running through the village again, so the electricity should be back on-line in the morning. It just might take a while for the generators to gain enough power through the water wheel," he reported. Quietly Sally clapped her hands together.

"Wonderful, good work, Rotor. Was there any permanent damage to any of the piping?" Sally asked.

"There was some, though I think you should take a look at it for yourself."

Before Sally could question Rotor further he had pulled out the pipe from under his arm and presented it to her.

"See here? I don't know what happened but somehow this pipe was cut into. The cut is too clean for it to have been done by falling debris or anything like that, so I think some sort of blade did this."

Staring at the pipe Sally took it from Rotor, not once moving her gaze from the strange cut. She ran her thumb tip over it, feeling just how straight the cut was. "But then who would cut the pipes with a blade?" she murmured out loud. "Were there any other pipes cut like this?"

"Mostly the lower pipes, they were somehow cut away from the rest of the plumbing and had caused a collapse, which is why we didn't have any running water. Everything's been repaired like I said, but now there's a lot of rubble and pipe debris at the bottom of the emergency tunnels."

"Why do I have the feeling that there's more to this earthquake than we think?" Sally groaned, pressing her hand against her face. "Thank you for your help, Rotor. You better get some sleep now." She handed the walrus the ruined pipe.

"All right then. Goodnight guys." Rotor turned to leave, but then stopped mid-step. "Uh, was there any word about finding Bunnie?" he asked, voice tense with hesitation. A quiet shake of Sally's head was his answer, and instantly he was downcast.

"We'll find her, Rotor. In the morning I'm going to check over the villagers and see if there are any willing volunteers for a larger search party," Sally informed.

"If you don't find enough animals then I'll go. I've done everything I can here on repairs," Rotor offered.

"We'll see, but thank you." Sally watched as Rotor made his way out the Infirmary, her heart growing heavy.

"Usually this is where Bunnie would say something reassuring to me," Sally commented in a somewhat dry voice, looking up to Uncle Chuck.

"You need to stay strong for the ones that are still here, Princess," Uncle Chuck stated. "I know it's hard but you have to be, for Bunnie and everyone else. They'll be looking towards you for guidance you know." He cocked his head down towards Sonic and Tails, both still sleeping deeply even through the conversation. Sally watched them in silence, allowing the robotic hedgehog's words to sink in. Idly she reached a hand out and ran it over Tails' drooped ear as she thought.

"You're right." A tiny smile crept across Sally's face, broadening a touch. "Thank you, Uncle Chuck."

"Any time, Princess. Now I think it is time for you to get some sleep. I'll be monitoring the generator in case you need anything." The elderly hedgehog gave Sally's shoulder a comforting pat before he departed.

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"Griff! Griff, come here we need help."

Turning from the piping he was repairing, a tall orange-brown goat watched as a group of Mobians came running up to him, a pale yellow lizard leading the group.

"Kevin, what's going on?" the goat, Griff, questioned as he dropped the tool he was using into a nearby toolbox.

"We were in the tunnels, and we found this strange girl just lying there. I think she's hurt," Kevin explained. He tugged at Griff's arm and led him to where the group was now laying Bunnie down, one Mobian supporting her injured head. Griff paused for a moment, surprised at the rabbit's half robotized form.

"Who is she? I don't think I've seen her in the colony before," Griff murmured.

"Dunno, never seen her either," Kevin shrugged, then cast a sinister glance at the lone fox that was following them. "But I bet Kaitlyn here thinks she's from the Surface."

The Mobians cracked up with laughter while the fox bowed her head in obvious embarrassment, twisting her thick tail in her hands.

"All right that's enough. I've told all of you to stop picking on Kaitlyn like that," Griff scowled. He knelt down beside Bunnie and carefully tilted her head to examine the wound. By then the blood had begun to clot, but what blood that leaked out had stained her pale fur.

"The wound looks pretty bad, hopefully it didn't cause any damage to her skull. Might be a good idea to get some X-rays done to be sure," he contemplated to himself. Out loud he asked, "Will you all be able to carry her into the Clinic?"

"Sure, Griff," Kevin confirmed, then called out the order to the group and led the way once again. "Coming with us?" the lizard called back when he realised the goat was not following.

"I'll be there soon, just need to clean up a bit here," Griff explained, jerking a hand towards the torn piping and tools he had been using. When the group was out of sight Griff looked about to make sure no one else was around before speaking to Kaitlyn.

"Have you been going up to the Surface again?" he questioned. Kaitlyn dug her toe into the dirt and nodded hesitantly.

"But I swear no one was there when I went up. I ended up in the junk yard this time," she confessed.

"Are you sure no one was around?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I know what I'm doing, Griff." The goat placed a hoofed paw on Kaitlyn's head and gave it a playful rub, messing up the fox's headscarf.

"I know you do, it's just a bit risky for you to go there alone. Especially with strange half robot rabbits falling in through the ground." Griff sighed and ran his free hand through his forelock. "I wonder what other damage we've caused up there?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

He was falling.

Spiralling down into the black void below him Sonic could not make himself stop, nor stop himself from tumbling head over tail. The rate was dizzying, making his vision blur with black swirls.

Then he struck the ground with backbreaking force, the wind knocked out of him. Silence surrounded Sonic; it was so silent it actually hurt to listen. His ears began aching for some sound, any sound at all. Sonic regretted the wish when the very air itself cracked with an explosion, and moments later large rocks rained down on him. Sonic tried to move out of harm's way, but found somehow he could not, and as he pondered a way to escape the rocks continued pouring over him, bruising his body and cutting wounds.

More rocks came tumbling down, some small, some large, and some mere pebbles, each striking Sonic with a furious velocity until he was buried in them. The weight of the rocks began pushing down, pressing his throat and suffocating him. Sonic felt claustrophobic and began to panic, thrashing his legs and arms to move the rocks, but the more he moved the more the rocks pressed down. A medium sized rock fell over his face, smothering it.

Finally a hand brushed over Sonic's shoulder and took its grip, squeezing a little.

"Sonic, Sonic wake up," a voice called. Sonic thrashed a bit more, trying to squirm away. He gave a slight growl of frustration.

"Sonic, wake up."

Sonic tensed his body, his growl heightening in volume. The hand brushed by his eyes, stroking over his ear.

"It's all right, easy now," the voice comforted. Sonic slowly opened his eyes, allowing his body to relax. He realised he was in the infirmary, and the hand touching him belonged to Sally.

"Are you all right? I think you were having a bit of a nightmare just now," Sally informed as she stroked her hand along Sonic's throat. Sighing to himself Sonic rubbed at his eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, I was kinda," he confirmed, his voice slow with fatigue. Sonic began to push himself into a sitting position but felt a great weight pushing down on him. For a split second his heart stopped cold, thinking that he was still in his dream, until he saw out of the corner of his eye a ball of orange fur. One of the fox's tails had fallen over Sonic's face while he was sleeping, which explained the smothering rock from his dream.

"How long has Tails been there?" Sonic laughed as he gingerly lifted Tails into a sitting position, then moved himself the same way. He noticed Muttski was also lying with them, the dog 'sleeping' soundly.

"Since last night. He didn't want to sleep alone." Sally answered.

"He's okay though, right?"

Sally nodded.

Sonic leaned back against the wall, placing Tails so that he had his head on Sonic's side. After making sure that the fox was comfortable Sonic asked: "And how about you? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, just still a bit shook up I guess," Sally admitted. Sonic reached out an arm and pulled Sally towards him, planting a kiss on her forehead when she came close enough.

"You're doing great, Sal, trust me," Sonic encouraged. Sally smirked and patted Sonic's side.

"Oh I hate when you say that," she teased.

"But you are, you never believe me," Sonic sighed dramatically, giving Sally a slight squeeze. A sharp pain coursed through his arm when he flexed his wrist. On instinct Sonic hissed, startling Sally into pulling away from him.

"What? What's wrong?" she exclaimed. Sonic grabbed at his wrist and cringed as another sting of pain shot through, then glared at the I.V needle.

"Since when was this put in me?" he demanded.

"Last night when you got back. You wouldn't remember because you passed out with exhaustion," Sally said with a slightly harsh tone. She took a hold of Sonic's untouched hand to stop him from fidgeting with the bandages that held the needle. "We had to put you on the drip so you wouldn't get sick from you Sleeping Sickness, you were showing signs of relapse."

"At least that explains why I feel like I've been drugged." Sonic sighed and pawed at his eyes, then began massaging his neck. "Can I take it out?"

"Wait for this batch to drain, then you can." Sally nodded to the bag hanging above Sonic's cot. Sonic looked, noticing the bag was less than one tenth empty. The area around the needle began itching.

"Any word about Bunnie yet?"

When Sonic asked the question there was a trace of remorse in his voice. Sally could not even bring herself to look the hedgehog as she explained the situation.

"The search party I sent out last night just returned over an hour ago, but they didn't find any signs of her. I'm just waiting to see if any more animals are willing to join the new search group."

Sonic groaned, holding his head in his hands and leaning forward. "Still nothing?" he muttered. "We should have found her by now, Sally. Where the heck could Bunnie be?"

Sally could not help but stare as Sonic clenched his fingers, as if to hold onto his sanity physically, and curled into a tighter foetal position. He was reacting to everything so darkly, completely different to the way he usually acted, and it scared her. Sally wondered if Sonic was reacting like this through guilt: it was suppose to be him in Robotropolis that day, not Bunnie.

If that was the case then Sally understood the feeling, as ever since the earthquake hit all she felt was guilt. After all, she was the one that allowed Bunnie to take Sonic's place. But then Sally would have felt worse if it was Sonic lost.

It was a lost scenario indeed.

Before Sally could comfort Sonic movement beside him came to both their attention. "Hey, Big Guy. How'd ya sleep?" Sonic questioned once the fox had fully awakened. Instantly a mask of calmness had covered all signs of Sonic's angst, almost like it had never been there in the first place. Though the look was still present in the hedgehog's eyes, which worried Sally.

"Okay, I guess," Tails yawned as he pawed at his eyes. Gently Sally reached over and scooped the fox cub into her arms, drawing him close to her. Tails curled up against Sally's body, his namesakes covering his body.

"That's good to hear, sweetheart. How's your head?"

"Still kinda sore, but I don't feel dizzy any more." Tails began tugging at the bandage still wound around his head and clawed underneath it. Sally pulled his hand away and untied the knot that secured the bandage.

"Well I think we can take this off now, though we might have to replace it a bit later, okay?" Sally informed as she pulled away the gauze. A small nod told her Tails acknowledged the vow. "See, Sonic? Why can't you be cooperative with medical procedures like Tails? It wouldn't hurt to put off your stubb--"

Sally looked up in time to see Sonic yank out the I.V needle from his wrist. She cringed as blood began to slowly seep out from the puncture, to which Sonic simply unwound the securing bandages and rewound it to cover it. Once that was done Sonic flexed his wrist to test its strength.

"Sorry, what were you saying, Sal?" he questioned eventually. Sally just pressed her face into her hand and sighed.

"You are unbelievable, Sonic Hedgehog."

"You said I could take it out when the bag was empty. There's no way I'm getting air pumped into my veins, sheesh!" Sonic rolled his eyes and slid off the bed, stretching his back and legs once he was standing.

"And where do you think you're going?" Sally demanded.

"Gonna join up the new search team and look for Bunnie, that's where," Sonic answered.

"No, you can't go out there again. Not like this," Sally exclaimed, instantly at her feet. In her haste she had forgotten Tails was sitting on her lap, so the poor fox cub had to grip onto Sally's shoulders to avoid a sudden fall. She redeemed the action by hoisting Tails up so he was secured.

Sonic regarded Sally coolly. "Yes I can, and I will. I feel fine, I'll be more careful this time I swear it," he promised. He stopped for a moment to look under the cot for his sneakers. "Besides the search will go much faster if I go with the group, you said it took them all night to go through the city."

"And if you get sick again? You're still recovering you know," Sally stated.

"I know, but this time I won't be alone. And I won't get sick again. Where's Rotor, I heard he wanted to join up a search team too?"

Sally gaped at Sonic. "How'd you know that?" She was sure Sonic was asleep last night while she was talking with Rotor.

"Like I said, I heard him say so," Sonic answered, not bothering to explain any further which annoyed Sally. The hedgehog tapped Muttski on his head, bringing him back into the waking world. Once the dog had finished with his usual welcome to his master, a half pounce that almost knocked Sonic to the ground and a cold lick across his face, he jumped down from the cot and stood by Sonic.

"I'm gonna bring Muttski with me this time. He might be able to sniff Bunnie out if she's been buried anywhere," Sonic said.

"I want to go, too. I can help find Aunt Bunnie no problem," Tails offered. Sally's arms tightened around Tails' form.

"That might be a good idea actually. Tails will be able to search from the air, and be look-out as well," Sonic said, looking at Sally for approval. Sally just shook her head.

"No, no it's too dangerous for Tails. Flying could aggravate his concussion--"

"But my head feels fine, and I wanna help," Tails protested. "Please, Aunt Sally, just this once let me help out." Tails stared up at Sally, making sure his eyes were wide and child-like. When Sally shook her head again the fox nuzzled his muzzle against her neck and hugged her, then looked up at her and tried to use the same look as before.

"Aw come on, Sal. How can ya say no to a face like that? Look he really wants to help out," Sonic insisted as he laid his hands on Tails' shoulders. It took a moment for Sally to realise Sonic was also imitating the look Tails was using, and could not help but let a ghost of a smile show.

"All right, but stay out there for only two hours, and not a minute longer," she sighed at a length. Tails yelped with delight and hugged Sally, then leapt out of her arms and made his way out of the infirmary at a run, calling for Muttski to follow him. The robotized beagle bounded away from the cot and ran after Tails, barking all the way. Sonic watched the two leave, a grin plastered on his face.

"Ah thanks, Sal. Tails really wanted to help out," he commented, turning to face her. When he did he saw that she now stood with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

"I'm going with you," Sally said. Sonic stared blankly at the ground squirrel, eventually his body language mimicking Sally's own.

"No way, Sal. It'll be better if you stay put here. We'll contact you as soon as we find Bunnie. Now I have to get going before Tails runs off on his own."

Before Sonic could turn to leave Sally stood in his way. She jabbed a finger at the hedgehog.

"I'm going with you. There is no way I'm just going to sit here on my tail while all my Freedom Fighters are out there in the heart of dangerous terrain. You know me better than that, Sonic," she hissed in a low voice. A lot of the in-patients of the infirmary were now staring at the couple, attracted by their arguing.

In a blink of an eye Sonic had grabbed Sally's out-stretched wrist and pulled her close to him. In her ear he whispered: "Well there is no way I'm going to let you get lost in that dangerous terrain, especially when we've already lost someone. And that's already gotten me close to the edge, if I lose you I'll go completely off it."

Sally's eyes widened at that.

"Please just stay here, we'll be back before you know it. Trust me on this one, 'kay Sal?" Sonic pressed his muzzle against Sally's neck, nuzzling her. When he gazed up at her there was a desperate look in his golden eyes. Sighing, Sally gave in.

"Just... just be careful, please?" she murmured as she wrapped her arms around Sonic's shoulders. She felt him do the same.

"I will, I promise." Sonic leaned over and planted a soft kiss on Sally's forehead, then reached for his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "We'll be back in a Sonic-second, with Bunnie."


	2. Chapter 2

A luminous red glow broke through the darkness, emitting hardly any visual aid to Robotnik's annoyance. In attempt to bring in more light the Overlander widened his eyes, the source of the light, and moved closer to the number pad he had been trying to make function for the past hour.

After pushing in what seemed to be a random set of numbers into the keypad Robotnik glared at what he could see of the door he wanted to open, as if willing it to open with just the look. He waited for a few heartbeats before throwing a punch into the wall in front of him. From behind the door a sharp squeal of surprise sounded, followed by what sounded like piles of paper being dropped.

"Snively! This is not working," Robotnik hissed through the door; voice loud enough to penetrate the thickness. Paper shuffling answered the Overlord. Snively had once again dropped his notes. Robotnik rolled his eyes.

"Apologises, sir. But the coding computer is still being repaired, and according to the workerbot doing the repairs it could take hours just to restore the lost data," Snively explained. Robotnik was not sure, but he thought he had heard a bored tone in his lackey's voice.

Robotnik sighed and muttered to himself, "If you want something done quickly, you have to do it by force." He pressed his hand, his robotized hand, against the split of the doors and began worming his fingers between them, wincing slightly at the slight high-pitch squeal they gave. When the gap between the doors became wide enough he slapped his other hand and began pushing harder, gritting his teeth with the effort. Eventually the doors buckled and pushed away with ease, giving in under the great doctor's strength. Robotnik stepped into the room, triumphant.

But the sight he was greeted with deflated the victory in an instant. All but one of the computers in the room were off-line, some crushed by large chunks of cement, some buried. Even Snively looked like he had fallen victim to the onslaught of debris. Large gashes covered most of his body, half of his clothes were torn to shreds, and he was completely covered in dust. The larger amount of dust on his hands was evidence of his digging through the debris to uncover the one still functioning computer. Further examination revealed a portable generator, which had somehow managed to survive unscratched by the earthquake, was running the computer.

"Can this computer conduct a damage report, Snively?" Robotnik questioned. He stared at the small computer, recognising it as one of the more primitive models he had kept since his take-over of Mobotropolis. He was sure that this computer was connected to his vast network of more advanced models, but he was not sure that the old thing held all the information that circulated throughout it.

Nevertheless, Snively began typing in commands, somehow being able to remember the old computer's list of commands and functions, and called up a large file. It was indeed a damage report, recently saved. Robotnik marvelled at despite the computer's age it still was able to prove that technology was superior.

"Eighty percent of the city has been destroyed, including the Doomsday site. All SWATBots dysfunctional and are unable to receive any new orders, Sir. Condition of the Workerbots unknown," Snively read out loud. "And we have lost contact with the new space-station and outside bases." Robotnik tapped at his chin with his finger, pondering.

"This could not have been the work of the Freedom Fighters, unless they were somehow able to create an earthquake under the city. I need to be able to see the full effect of this earthquake... Are there not any robots functioning?"

Snively entered in another series of commands, calling up several windows and files. Only one out of the files revealed that there were some robots functioning, but they were kept in an abandoned area in the northern regions of Robotropolis. Miraculously that same area had survived the earthquake, if barely. From over Snively's shoulder Robotnik read the file.

"Ah, my old Rat-Bots. It has been years since I've last used them," Robotnik swooned with the love only a creator such as he would possess. Snively cringed at the display of affection. Further reading the file showed that there were over fifteen Rat-Bots stored away, deactivated, but that could be easily changed.

"Activate the whole squadron, Snively, and have them patrol the city for a complete damage report, and for any wandering Freedom Fighters. Perhaps if they do the job right I will bring them out of retirement."

"An excellent idea, Sir," Snively praised, then mentally scowled at the Overlander. It was obvious that he had forgotten why the Rat-Bots were deactivated in the first place. They all obeyed orders, but at the same time displayed the ability to think on their own, to the point where they had almost destroyed the underground tunnels they were meant to be patrolling. There were two in particular that seemed to lead the rest's actions, the original commanding Rat-Bots. Somehow during their patrols of the toxic sewers these two Rat-Bots had mutated, which could be the reason they were able to control the other Rat-Bots. Because of this all the Rat-Bots were gathered and deactivated, their memories wiped clean and stored away so as to avoid the same thing happening.

Snively observed that Robotnik had a bad memory, and that perhaps he needed it wiped clean also.

He sent out the order anyway, realising that Robotnik was now glaring at him for the delay.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hot blinding pain welcomed Bunnie into the conscious world. She had to close her eyes just to gather the will to block out the pain from the back of her head.

After a few moments the pain became somewhat bearable, and Bunnie was able to open her eyes. As she took in her surroundings Bunnie thought for a moment that she was back in Knothole, until she realised the walls were actually made of rocks, not wood. She also realised that she was lying on a bed, complete with pillows and bed sheets, so that told her that there were other Mobians, or at least she hoped they were Mobians, around.

"Where th' heck am Ah?" she wondered out loud, cringing at the wave of pain speaking caused. She held a hand to her head to calm the pain, then attempted to sit up.

Two things happened when she did this. The first being the massive flood of pain that came rushing over her, seemingly drowning her head and making it tread mental torment. The other was the discovery that her robotized arm was still not functioning.

Bunnie lay down once again, deciding never to try that again until she received some form of aspirin. She tried to roll to her side, however, and found that she could at least do that without causing too much damage. She looked over her robotic arm for a moment, then looked around herself again in hopes of finding perhaps a toolbox, or even a convenient screw driver somewhere. Rotor had shown her plenty of times how to open up her robotized parts and do some minor repairs in the event of an emergency, so Bunnie was hoping that this was one of those times that she would be able to do something to help herself.

The sound of footsteps made Bunnie switch positions back onto her back, the sudden movement drilling more pain into her head. She pushed away the sensation and closed her eyes, wanting to hear out who it was before letting them know that she was awake. The footsteps stopped at where Bunnie assumed was the door, then continued passed her and over to the other side of the room. Small glass jars being clicked together as they were moved around became apparent to Bunnie just before a drawer being opened.

"I know you're awake, Miss. Don't be afraid you're safe here," a male voice suddenly stated, somewhat startling Bunnie. Cautiously she allowed one eye to open, and when nothing jumped out and attacked her the other followed suit. Standing before her was a tall orange-brown goat. He had an ash-grey underbelly and a tuft of brown hair that fell over his black eyes and grew back along his neck. The two long horns protruding out of his skull looked sharp and strong, Bunnie was sure that the goat could use them to gorge through any Mobian if he wanted to, but the kind nature his face presented seemed to contradict the idea.

"How are you feeling? You've been out cold for quite a while now," the goat questioned as he walked over to Bunnie's side. On the small table near Bunnie he placed a vial of clear liquid and some white cloth, along with a roll of gauze.

"Not too bad, Ah guess," Bunnie began slowly. "Though mah head's giving me grief."

"I wouldn't be surprised at that, you have a mild concussion. You took one heck of a fall earlier," the goat explained. He then extended a hand, which Bunnie saw was hoofed, and only had two fingers and a thumb.

"I'm Griff, by the way. I sort of run the place but don't let that intimidate you," he greeted, smirking slightly. Bunnie could not help but smile as she took Griff's hoof and shook it.

"Ah'm Bunnie. Ah, um... sort of crash land into places in mah spare time."

"Not the sort of hobby I would take up, especially with the injuries that come with it." Griff cocked his head towards the wound on Bunnie's head. Bunnie lifted a hand and pressed it against the wound, only just realising that it had been bandaged up.

"Did you do this?" she asked, referring to the bandage.

"No, the doctor here did. He's with another patient at the moment, and I wanted to have a talk with you so I decided to volunteer to change the bandage for you. Will that be all right?"

"Of course."

Griff reached up and began tugging gingerly at the knots in the bandage, pulling the strands away and dropping it to the ground, but not before Bunnie spied the large blood stain that had managed to go through all the layers.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about the blood. It looks like a lot but really it's just the gauze we use that makes it spread out further. We use extra absorbent stuff for our bandages," Griff pointed out, noticing Bunnie's worried look.

"Maybe, but 'hat's still a lot of blood, sugah," Bunnie commented. Griff picked up the vial and tipped a bit of the liquid onto one of the cloths.

"This might sting a bit, just a warning."

Bunnie held her breath as the serum touched her wound, instantly sending a liquid fire through her wound. When Griff dabbed the cloth the pain worsened.

"So where are you from exactly? I've never seen you around these parts," Griff inquired as he changed cloths.

"Well first Ah need ta know where Ah am bef're answerin' that," Bunnie stated. Griff chortled and nodded.

"Of course, of course. Forgive me for that. You are in Lower Mobius, an underground colony."

Bunnie gaped at the goat like as if he had just told her they were on the moon. "Get outta town, there aren't any undahground colonies around heah! We would have known about it by now at least."

Griff paused in mid-stroke and stared at Bunnie straight in the eye. "We? As in more than one Mobian?"

"Yeah. Th're still Mobians above ground, sugah."

"I know that, it's just I haven't seen any for a while above ground. Whenever I go up there there's never anyone around," Griff retorted. He tossed the used cloth into a near by bin and reached over for the roll of gauze.

"Jerst how long have y'all been undahground, Griff?"

Griff dropped his gaze to the floor and began fidgeting with the bandage. "My whole life. Same goes for the rest of the colony."

Bunnie gasped, then began to back away from Griff. "Y'all keepin' them here as prisonahs, 'nd now y'all gonna do th' same ta me," she yelped.

"No, it's not like that at all. Please calm down and let me explain," Griff exclaimed.

"Heck no, y'all probably kidnapped me from Robotropolis aft'r that earthquake to become yer new member or sum'thang," Bunnie hissed.

"No, Bunnie please! Just let me explain, it's a bit of a long story but just hear me out okay?" Griff pleaded. Bunnie glared at the goat but relaxed her body.

"All right, Ah'm listening."

"Thank you. First off, we found you in one of our tunnels. Somehow you fell through the ground, and you were injured so we brought you back here to be treated. So far so good?"

Bunnie nodded.

"Good. Now about the colony." Griff paused a moment to look around, as if he thought someone was listening in on their conversation.

"A few months before the Great War, my grandfather had heard about the risk of the Overlanders coming into Mobian territory and didn't want to be part of it. He was a peace loving Mobian and was totally against the war.

"Anyway, he had decided to go underground in an attempt to avoid the on-coming attack and protect his family, and offered the same idea to those who wanted to do the same. Apparently there were quite a few, and they all helped to build the first tunnels. They were completed just days before the first Overlander invasions. The thing was it wasn't meant to be on a permanent basis, the original idea was to wait out the war then return to the surface.

"But the main entrance was blocked off from the constant bombings, and because of that everyone believed that everything above ground was obliterated. So they stayed underground. By then it had been almost a year since they'd been underground, and a new civilisation had been pretty much established here."

"So the original undahground dwellahs were heah by free choice?" Bunnie questioned.

"Yes, it was totally up to them. No one was forced to come here, nor stay."

"And yet Mobians chose to stay heah for two generations?"

"Well yes."

"By free will?"

"Yes, Bunnie. Although it is a sort of twisted form of free choice," Griff admitted.

"Ah knew it!"

"You see, the thing is, my grandfather a few years later discovered that the above ground world wasn't totally destroyed, and that Mobians still lived there. But everyone under here was happy and felt much safer than they would above ground, while still thinking that the war was going. Somehow he didn't want to ruin it for them, so he never told anyone what he had learnt."

"So no one now knows about life above ground?"

"No one except me and another Mobian here. Her name's Kaitlyn, she followed me once when I went above ground to look for a new power source. But before her it was just me knowing."

"That's one heck of a secret to keep from everyone, Griff. Why haven't you told them yet?" Bunnie questioned.

"First, because I doubt they'd believe me. It's gotten to the point where possible life above ground has become a myth, if anything an element of new fairy tales being told here to the children. And second, it was my father's dying wish to not say anything, as was his father's. I feel like I'm betraying my father and his father if I tell them the truth."

Bunnie leaned back against the wall and rubbed her head, feeling a nasty headache coming. "Quite a predicament y'all gotten yaself in ta," she quipped.

"Tell me about it. I've been tempted so many times to just scream it to everyone just so I can sleep at night." Griff pawed at his eyes tiredly. "What is life like up there, anyway?"

Bunnie shrugged. "Not th' greatest, to be honest. Although the fresh air and the big blue sky really make up fer it. Not ta mention the wide-open spaces and natural light. th' only thang that spoils it is Robotnik and his death grip."

"Oh Robotnik I know a bit about. I've been stealing old robot parts from his junkyard for a few years now, though I've never seen him, nor heard enough about him except for the fact he exists," Griff said.

"That's all ya need ta know about him, sugah, trust me. But Ah'm part of a group that's tryin' ta bring him down fer good."

"At least you lead a fulfilling life-style, Bunnie," Griff sighed.

"Hey, don't beat yerself up lahk that. Y'all in charge of a whole colony and kept it undah control, y'all must be doin' somethang right," Bunnie insisted.

"Yeah, lying to them. Trust me I'm glad I've been able to be a good leader for these Mobians, but it just seems so hollow to me. Especially with a war going on now I feel like I'm a leech for not helping out."

Bunnie gazed at the goat sympathetically. He had a good point, she admitted. There was an awkward silence between the two for what seemed like forever, until Griff spoke up.

"How about I show you around? The underground world isn't too bad really, it can be quite beautiful if you ignore its history," Griff offered, the same humour filled smirk returning to his face. Bunnie felt her spirits perk up somewhat at seeing it again.

"Ah'd love ta," she agreed, and with Griff's help she slid off the bed. But as she stood on her own the weight from her inactive robotized arm caused her to lurch to the side a bit, reminding Bunnie that she had one more problem that needed fixing. Griff caught Bunnie by her normal arm and steadied her.

"Are you all right? You're not feeling dizzy are you?" he questioned, alarmed. Bunnie shook her head.

"It's mah arm. Ah must've knocked it on something earlier 'cause now it won't work," she explained. Griff looked at Bunnie's arm, biting his bottom lip in thought.

"I'm not too familiar with mechanics, I'm afraid. At least not in this form. Does it hurt?"

"Nah, though it's a bit o' a problem that Ah can't feel it at all," Bunnie said. Griff walked over to the other side of the room and pulled out a drawer, fishing out a large piece of cloth. This he wound around Bunnie's arm and hoisted it up slightly, wrapping the cloth's ends around her neck. This, Bunnie found, allowed her to at least keep her balance.

"It's the best I can do for now. Is there anyone you know that can fix it?"

"Mah friend Rotor, he usually helps me with mah limbs. Though he's on th' surface right now and Ah have no way of contactin' him."

"Then we need to get you back up there, but without anyone seeing you," Griff pondered. "Tell you what, I could get Kaitlyn to help sneak you out at Lights Out, so at least we have some cover. Until then you'll have to just stay here and hope not too many Animals notice you."

A dark scowl crossed Bunnie's face, surprising Griff.

"Are you all right, Bunnie?" he asked.

"Not really. This arm is always givin' me grief, and mah legs. Ah've had them all mah life 'nd Ah still can't live with 'em. Th'y're lahk a curse or sum'thang ta me," Bunnie explained with a sigh. She stared down at her useless arm, wishing that it was broken like a normal limb instead of malfunctioning. "Ya know Ah wanted ta be a hairdressah ever since Ah was a little bunny, but with this arm Ah'll end up rippin' people's heads off instead o' givin' them a quick shampoo."

"But you have added strength unlike any normal Mobian has, and it would be handy especially with you being a Freedom Fighter," Griff coaxed.

"Wha' about wh'n Ah'm not a Freedom Fightah any more? No body wants a freakishly strong girl. Face it, Sugah-Goat, Ah'm a freak." The cyborg rabbit bowed her head shamefully, scrunching the heel of her hand into the corner of her eyes to stop herself from crying. "Ah'm sorry, Griff. Ah jerst feel so dang useless because of mah arm, Ah feel lahk a burden to ya."

"No, you're not a burden," Griff encouraged, placing his hooves on Bunnie's shoulders in a comforting manner. "If anything you're a wonderful Animal, and one of the most kind-hearted Mobians I've ever met."

Bunnie sniffled lightly. "Ya mean it?" she murmured in a shaky voice.

"Of course. And I think you've very brave being part of the war, you could have so easily just hidden yourself away and do nothing, but instead you fought back against the person that did this to you. Robotnik's the monster here, not you."

Bunnie smiled, the goat's words sinking in like renewed energy through her mind and body. Carefully she wrapped her good arm around Griff's shoulders and gave him a single-armed hug.

"Thanks, sweetheart. You're one heck of a leader, ya know th't? Don't ever lose that good heart o' yours."

"You're welcome, Bunnie. But I meant what I said, so don't you ever think differently. I've known you for like ten minutes, yet I feel like I've known you my whole life. I've never felt this connected to anyone in the colony," he explained.

They separated, for the moment not knowing what to do next. The two Mobians stood there, Bunnie fidgeting with her arm sling.

"So does that plan sound all right to you?" Griff questioned suddenly, startling Bunnie.

"Wha'?"

"The plan, to sneak you out at Lights Out. Will you be able to wait a few hours?" Griff elaborated.

"Oh! Right, sorry. Ah was a million miles away," Bunnie giggled, blushing madly. "Ah'll be all right, it shouldn't be too much o' a hassle. Though wha' do y'all mean by 'Lights Out'?"

Griff began to lead Bunnie out of the Clinic, waving to the doctor as he left.

"Lights Out is the underground equivalent to night time. It's when we dim down the main light source just so it isn't completely dark. This also allows us to conserve power, though we really need to find a new power source soon." Griff lifted a hoof to direct Bunnie's attention upwards, where she found a large glowing crystal set into the ceiling of the cavern. The crystal appeared to pulse with energy, each beat causing a slight dimness before sending out a blinding wave of light.

"Mah stars, that is amazin'," Bunnie breathed. "Back home we'all use a water-wheel ta power our generator, what exactly do you use?"

"How about I show you? It'll be easier to explain," Griff recommended. When Bunnie accepted Griff began to lead her into the centre of the colony.

"Oh, by the way. No one can know you're from the Surface. If anyone asks you're from the Northern Branch, surprisingly enough everyone can't seem to keep track of all the Mobians here," Griff stated. "Understand?"

Bunnie nodded.

"Good, thank you. Now, to the Power Station."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"There, that should last for at least four hours now," Rotor finalised as he slid in a new battery into Sonic's comm.link.

"Cool, Rote. And that should be enough time for us to scope out the whole city for Bunnie," Sonic stated.

"But we're only meant to be out here for two hours," Tails pointed out shyly. Sonic scowled slightly, but then shrugged.

"No biggie, if we have to we'll go over-time. Let's not worry too much about it now, we better start looking before our limit runs out."

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a paper map of Robotropolis. There were not enough batteries to go around for all the holographic maps, so to save resources all the members of the search parties were given old paper maps. Whenever a party's search period was completed all the maps were updated by marking all the areas they had searched. According to the copy of the map Sonic less than half the city had been searched.

"Okay, let's check out the North-West side. Tails, think you'll be able to walk that far?"

"No problem, Sonic," Tails commented, flashing a thumbs up.

"How 'bout you, Sonic? Will you be all right?" Rotor questioned.

"I'll be fine, all that sleep I got last night fixed me right up," Sonic said. He began walking in the general direction of the west, for the moment leaving Rotor and Tails behind. The walrus began fidgeting with the bill of his cap nervously.

"He'll be okay, Rotor," Tails said. "Aunt Sally said he was given that medicine last night, and he was all right this morning."

"That's not what I'm worried about. Haven't you noticed how oddly he's been acting since the earthquake? It's like he's become detached from himself," he explained.

Tails cocked his head with confusion, then looked towards where Sonic had walked to. "I haven't noticed that. It could be just because he's worried about Bunnie."

"Yeah, maybe. But still--"

"Hey, you want me to drag you two at top speed? I'll do it if you stand there a second longer," Sonic suddenly shouted. He was standing a fair distance from the two Mobians, his arms crossed and a scowl of his face. Muttski was standing next to him, head cocked to the side as if questioning why the two Mobians were not moving.

"Coming," Tails called, then spun his tails together and began hovering towards the hedgehog, Rotor following close behind.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not far from the trio, five pairs of eyes flashed red through the darkness. One by one the large metallic rats sprang to life, disturbing the spiders that had taken residence in the robots' joints and hollows.

With animal-like motions the Rat-Bots shook off the lingering dust and cobwebs from their bodies and began looking at their surroundings, taking in their new environment as a delayed coded message probed into their minds. Once the message had completed its relay to them the Rat-Bots marched out of their holding shed in an orderly fashion.

Once all the Rat-Bots were out two other larger Rat-Bots followed the line. They paused for a moment, their red eyes flickering to green then back. The other Rat-Bots' eyes did the same thing, then they allowed the two large Rat-Bots to lead the way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Griff stepped away from the doorway to allow Bunnie to step through.

"This is our Power Station, where we keep our Power Crystals," he announced as he led the cyborg rabbit to a large computer terminal. He pressed a button on the console, and to his left a panel slid open. Within the cavity the panel covered Bunnie could see a faint blue glow. Griff reached in and pulled out a large blue stone, presenting it to Bunnie.

"We discovered these years ago deep in the caverns, and after studying them we discovered a way to concentrate power energies through them. You see by putting one into the terminal it sends waves of energy through itself, then back out into the terminal. Kinda like how light bounces around a normal diamond.

"The only problem with this is the self-produced energy doesn't last very long, which is why we have Light Outs. This gives us a chance to recharge the terminal and change the crystal if we need to. Sometimes the energy build-up becomes too great, to the point it causes the crystal to actually explode," he explained.

"Th't's amazin', Griff! And y'all been able to survive fer so long because of these li'le thangs?" Bunnie asked.

"More or less. Before we had these we used hydro-generators, using a series of underground rivers. But then one of the main rivers became polluted; I'm guessing Robotnik had something to do with it. And whatever river didn't become polluted we use as a sort of back up, in case something happens to the Power Crystals. But it isn't really that reliable."

Bunnie began walking around the station, marvelling at all the computers. She knew that if he were here Rotor would be having a field day, asking questions as fast as Sonic could run. She wanted to know more about how the station worked, but for the life of her she could not think of one intelligent question.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her good arm, gripping it tightly.

"Who are you? You're not suppose to be in here," a voice growled from behind Bunnie, startling her. She spun on her heels, coming face to face with a light brown warthog. He wore a blue uniform similar to Antoine's, minus the red trimmings and boots.

"Phil! Don't worry, she's with me," Griff called, running to Bunnie's side. The warthog continued to glare at Bunnie with suspicion, not letting her go.

"I've never seen her before. Who is she?" Phil questioned.

"This is Bunnie. She's from the Northern branch. She was injured during the digs so she was brought here. I'm just showing her around because she might be here for a while," Griff explained.

"Howdy," Bunnie greeted, twisting her gripped hand into a weak wave. Phil finally released the rabbit's hand.

"Hello. Sorry about the rough handling, I thought you were a citizen. They're not allowed in here without special permission from either Griff or one of the watchmen," he clarified, bowing his head in an apologising manner.

"That's okay, Phil. I kinda let her in on the splurge of the moment. Sorry about that."

"No harm done, Griff. Now if you excuse me I'm expecting a new shipment of Power Crystals. The one we have now is starting to run out of juice." With a final bow to Bunnie the warthog shuffled away to the other side of the Power Station, where there was a sliding door Bunnie did not notice before.

"Sorry about that, Phil's a little over-protective when it comes to the Power Station. Though I'm not sure why, it's not like anyone can really steal the Power Crystals without anyone in the colony noticing," Griff apologised.

"No, dun worry yerself ovah it, Sugar. It happens." Then Bunnie realised what the goat had said in his white lie. "Wha' didja mean by the digs?"

Griff walked over to the previous terminal and reinserted the Power Crystal he was showing Bunnie. "Well, we've set up two separate colonies next to this one: one towards the north and the other towards the south. That's where we can find the most Power Stones. No one really lives in the other branches they just work the mines, though we always rotate the workers so no one can usually keep up with who's working except me really."

Bunnie tried to visualise how the features she knew about above ground were situated so she understood where Griff was talking about. "How far apart are th' two colonies?"

"At least fourteen to fifteen kilometres from the very centre of this colony," Griff responded. So if she fell in here from the western region of Robotropolis, then--

Her heart stopped cold in her chest.

"Oh mah stars, y'all been diggin' undah Knothole," she exclaimed, gaping at Griff in shock.

"Knot...hole? What is that?" Griff questioned.

"Th't's mah village. And y'all been diggin' undah Robotropolis as well, haven't ya?"

"Well, yes. But I didn't know there were any civilisations near our north colony." Then realisation hit. "But we did have to extend our tunnels there because of the lack of crystal population in the previous area. Oh Bunnie, I had no idea."

Even through his dark fur Bunnie could see the goat paling. Griff leaned back against the terminal and held his head.

"I am so sorry, I was so sure there was nothing up there. All our maps said so. Oh now I've done it."

"'nd now Ah've reall' got ta get back to mah village. Ah hope everyone's all right, heck Ah hope th' village is still thare," Bunnie exclaimed.

"Well so far we haven't had any reports of whole villages falling into our tunnels, so perhaps that's a good sign." Griff stood to his full height and made his way to the exit of the Power Station. "Looks like we have to sneak you out earlier than we planned. Let's find Kaitlyn, she knows the best spots in the tunnels. You might end up in Robotropolis again, but for now that's the safest place for you while here."

"As long as Ah don't end up on th' other side of the world Ah'm happy with th't. Let's go already."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Robotropolis the five Rat-Bots patrolled the destroyed streets like a pack of ravenous wolves, red eyes lighting up the darken streets. The mutated Rat-Bots still led the pack, but were not observing the damaged city like the rest of the group were. In their altered minds they were searching for a mean of escape for their pack, acting like their flesh and blood counterparts. Years ago through a miracle discovery the two Rat-Bots realised that there was a different way of life not under a face-less master, but before they could explore the idea their freedom was taken away, and memories were deleted and left empty for new orders.

But these two Rat-Bots did not hold memories like their dim-witted brethren. Instead when they were activated the memories flooded back into their minds like a river from where they were held deep down in a place no computer could ever reach.

Every so often the leaders' eyes flashed green, the rest of the pack's eyes following the pattern as the leaders reminded them of the desired utopia. The head Rats knew that the order of their face-less master still plagued their silicon-based minds, but their own intelligence knew how to use that to their advantage.

The leaders glanced at each other for a moment, then simultaneously they scrambled their internal-cameras, along with one of the other Rat-Bots, so all they showed their master was static snow. They planned on doing the same for the rest of their brethren once they found their means of escape.

The pack continued their trek through the metropolis, heading for the Western region.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sir, there seems to be a problem with the Rat-Bots' camera system," Snively reported. From his place on the ground where he was attempting to repair one of the more advanced computers Robotnik glared at the smaller Overlander through his goggles, then looked to the computer Snively was posted at. Just as he had said the camera feed only showed grey-scaled snow.

"Switch to another 'bot," Robotnik ordered as he shuffled to his feet, dusting off his tattered cloak. Snively changed the feed to the next Rat-Bot, getting the same result.

"Again," Robotnik rumbled. After two more attempts Snively found a Rat-Bot's camera that still worked. He sent out a command to direct the Rat-Bot's head in different directions, the command delayed due to the computer's slow processor and ancient link-up.

"My beautiful city," Robotnik mourned, actually showing sadness for the destruction of his capital.

"Looks like they're heading for the Western regions, Sir," Snively informed. He checked the camera-feed's properties, noting that it was the mutated robots' cameras that weren't working, along with one of the normal Rat-Bots'. But he still found it suspicious; he was sure that all of the Rat-Bots' cameras were working when they were activated.

"Continue monitoring their process. Perhaps send out a command for them to look out for any scavenging Freedom Fighters," Robotnik commanded as he headed back to the computer he was previously at. "What of the SWATBot command status?"

The small Overlander began typing in a series of commands into the old computer, calling up a data form. "Remote command points are still scrambled, Sir. The auto-repairs will take at least another hour, perhaps less."

"Very well, keep me posted."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was harder than usual to keep up with Sonic.

The hedgehog seemed to have set an impossible pace to keep in step with, and the rocky terrain of the destroyed city wasn't making things any easier for the two Mobians following. Sonic looked back eventually, realised what he was doing, and stopped. Rotor and Tails gave an involuntary sigh of relief.

"Looks like we're gonna search here," Sonic remarked sheepishly when the two Mobians flopped onto the ground. "Sorry 'bout the, guys."

Once they had recovered from their brisk walk Rotor and Tails adopted separate directions to begin their search, Tails taking to the air so that he could also look for any possible SWATBot patrols. The area they were in now had dozens of buildings and sheds surrounding them, most obliterated from the earthquake and aftershock. Rotor was already in one still-standing building, lost in its darkness.

When Sonic was sure that they were safe during their search he bent to one knee and patted Muttski's head, grabbing the dog's attention.

"All right, Muttski. You remember Bunnie, right?" he questioned. Muttski cocked his head to one side as if in thought, but Sonic's keen hearing could hear his CPU processing the question, similar to that of a computer. Uncle Chuck once said that a robotized Mobian stored their memories as data and could recall them like a computer would. It did, however, frighten Sonic that his dog, whom used to be flesh and blood, was now nothing but a computer.

After a moment Muttski gave a loud bark of acknowledgement, confirming that he knew whom Sonic was talking about.

"Good boy, now you remember her scent too, right?" Sonic asked. Another bark. "All right, then. Let's start searching."

At once Muttski's steel nose hit the ground, and he began sweeping it over the ground as fast as he could process every scent. When Muttski regained his free will he also regained his senses, which through the robotization's conditioning had been disabled. Robotnik had been smart to do that, as earlier prototype victims showed signs of phantom blisters and aches from prolonged labour. Not wanting something as silly as false injuries crippling his production the doctor programmed the Robotizer to 'dull the senses', so to speak.

Sonic followed his dog, barely keeping up with him, as he began climbing piles of debris and dirt.

"I should have brought his leash," Sonic muttered to himself as Muttski disappeared behind a large pile and dove in. Once Muttski was given a command, even one as simple as retrieving a ball for a game of Fetch, he would get straight to it with hyperactive enthusiasm.

As Muttski began shovelling away debris at a bulldozer's rate Tails flew over Sonic, catching the hedgehog's attention.

"Anything, bro?" Sonic asked. Tails shook his head.

"But it is both a good and bad thing," Tails reasoned, then landed. "No SWATbots or anything like could get us out here."

"Suppose." Sonic watched as his dog feverishly sniffed at the area he had just uncovered, then bounded over to another pile and began hauling trash behind him. "Maybe Bunnie was already found, but not by the ones we want."

"What? You mean Robotnik might have her? No way," Tails exclaimed.

"Well think about it. We've been searching for ages now, with no sign of Bunnie whatsoever. We can't break into the city because it's either half gone or locked up through all those electric doors, so we can't even check the security logs to make sure. And even if we did break in there we couldn't do that, because there's no power here," Sonic remarked. As he spoke Sonic's teeth flashed through his pulled-back lips with such anger it sent shivers down the fox kit's spine. The hedgehog's appearance reflected the heated emotion, from bristled quills to flexed claws. Even his eyes appeared brighter and wilder.

"There's still a chance that Bunnie's just taken shelter somewhere. Maybe she's hurt or--"

"Maybe she's hurt, that'll be one heck of a bonus," Sonic spatted sarcastically. "While we're at it let's theorise that she's slowly being crushed by slabs of concrete as we speak, and when we do find her she'll be nothing but road kill."

Tails stared wide-eyed at his friend, not believing the horrific scene he had just described. Now Tails understood what Rotor was trying to explain before; Sonic was starting to lose it. He never used to act like this before in a situation such as this, so what was going on?

It took a moment for Sonic to realise that Tails was staring at him with a shocked expression, and another to figure out why.

"Oh man, I'm sorry, bro. I didn't mean to shove all that in your face like that," he stumbled. Tails could judge by his voice that Sonic was being genuine in his apology, adding to himself that he did sound like his normal self again.

"It's okay. I know you're worried and all," Tails commented.

"Yeah but still, I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry, man." Sonic pawed at his face, and as Tails observed him he noticed that his hand shook. Tails laid a paw on his adoptive brother's shoulder, trying to ignore the shaking he could feel there as well.

"We'll find her, Sonic. And she'll be okay," he stated. Sonic nodded, patting Tails' hand.

"I know. Thanks, Big Guy." Sonic managed a small smile that ghosted his familiar cocky grin. Tails winked and gave him the thumbs up.

"Any time, big bro."

At that point Rotor walked up to the two Mobians. He was covered from head to toe with dust and grime from the shed he was exploring. He tried to wipe off some of the grime from his face, but the more he rubbed the more the grime simply moved around.

"Well nothing there except a whole lot of grime and junk," he stated.

"So I've noticed," Sonic retorted, one eyebrow cocked up. "Right, let's keep going then. Tails, better get back in the air. Muttski!" The hedgehog whistled sharply for his pet. But when he did not appear Sonic got worried.

"Muttski. Come on, boy." He called as he made his way to where he had last seen the dog. Rotor and Tails followed, Tails taking to the air to see if he could spot Muttski.

"Muttski!" Sonic yelled. "Where are you?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had been travelling for hours now, the leaders scanning in a constant sweep the area that surrounded them. Through this they had found a large opening in the centre of the Western region that led into a tunnel at least twenty feet deep, and were now heading for that opening.

From behind the pack one of the minor Rat-Bots stopped in mid-step and cocked its head to one side, its eyes glowing yellow as it went into scanning mode.

"Intruder detected in Sector Nineteen," it reported to the leaders. The leading Rat-Bots stopped and faced the minor.

"Pack is no longer scanning for intruders for Master, Unit-Five," one stated in the form of data. "Override previous commands."

"Intruder detected is another unregistered robotic form," Unit-Five elaborated.

The two leaders faced each other, mimicking shock, then began searching for the intruder on their scanners to get a visual. For another robotic form to be following them meant that their face-less Master was still tracking them, which could prove fatal to their escape plan.

As they did Muttski emerged from a pile of debris ten metres away from the group, shaking off dust from his body. When he stopped Muttski spotted the pack of robots and began growling, slowly advancing.

In response the leading Rat-Bots ordered the minors to attack, whom hissed at the dog and activated their tails. Their tails glowed an electric blue, heat radiating from them and filling the silent air with a high-pitched buzz. The Rat-Bots' tails were their main tool in underground production, as the electricity generated from them acted like a laser, giving the robots the ability to cut through pipes and rock with the greatest of ease. If need be their tails could also be used as a weapon to stun any intruders they happened upon, as the voltage could be lowered with a simple command. At the moment the tails were activated at their third lowest level.

They began creeping up to Muttski at an agonisingly slow pace, their tails whipping behind them in anticipation as they hissed at their prey. Muttski stopped his own movements, somewhat startled by the confrontation as the Rat-Bots not only out-numbered him but also out-sized him, however he still stood his ground by maintaining his growl and his eyes glowing.

The Rat-Bots were now only a few feet away from the brave dog, and by then Muttski had learnt how they moved and planned on attacking first, but before he could strike out he became distracted by someone calling out his name. The dog's head cocked up at the sound and he recognised the voice as his master's.

Without thinking except on trained habit Muttski turned to look for his master, giving one of the Rat-Bots the perfect opportunity to whip itself around in a full circle and slap the dog with its tail, which caused Muttski to be thrown off his feet as a surge of electricity rattled through him. Muttski gave a pained yelp that was ignored by the attacking Rat-Bot, and the pack slinked away from the scene to continue their process to the opening.

As soon as the Rat-Bots disappeared Sonic had arrived not far from the spectacle, searching around himself for his dog.

"Muttski!" he called. "Ah man, it'll be a real kick in the teeth if he goes missing, too."

"He couldn't have gone far," Rotor coaxed as he came up from behind. He watched Tails fly overhead and added, "Maybe Muttski found a clue to where Bunnie is."

"Maybe, it'll be past cool if he did."

"Sonic! I found him," Tails cried out, waving his arms to get the hedgehog's attention. Sonic gave a sigh of relief and scrambled over to where Tails was, finding Muttski just as he got to his feet.

"Muttski! Man, don't wander off like that," Sonic sighed as he bent to one knee to be at Muttski's eye level. At that angle he could see that the robot's eyes were flickering on and off, and every so often Muttski would shake his head as if to clear it. It alarmed Sonic that Muttski was acting like he was having a seizure.

"Hey, Muttski. Are you all right?" Sonic questioned, using a hand to steady the dog. Tails landed next to Sonic as Rotor walked up to him, they too noticing Muttski's strange behaviour.

"What's wrong with him?" Tails asked, looking concerned. Sonic just shook his head.

"No clue, bro. But he was doing this when I got here," he said.

"Let me see," Rotor offered as he bent down. He reached into his tool belt and pulled out a tiny screwdriver, then titled Muttski's head to one side and proceeded in unscrewing a tiny panel at the back of Muttski's head.

Sonic had to look away from that point, covering his eyes so he would not have to see the wires and circuits that acted as Muttski's brain. It took a minute for Rotor to fix the problem and replace the panel, but once he was done the beagle was back to normal.

"Looks like he got knocked over or something, one of the circuits got loose. But no real damage, when we get back home I can just secure it properly, so make sure he doesn't knock his head again," Rotor explained, then stood and dusted off his knees.

"Thanks, Rote'. He seems all right now," Sonic murmured as he turned back to face his dog. He gave Muttski a pat and said, "I look forward to the day where we can take you to a real vet, and not a mechanic."

Muttski gave a loud bark in agreement before pressing his nose into Sonic's palm and giving it an affectionate lick. Then the dog cocked his head to one side, as if remembering something, and began barking.

"Now what?" Sonic queried. Before anyone could pitch any theories Muttski took off, kicking up dust behind him. All three Mobians cried out in surprise and ran after him and ran after him, yelling for Muttski to stop. But Muttski paid no attention to their cries and continued running, his barking becoming louder with each step.

Sonic lowered his head and picked up his pace until his feet were nothing but blurs, allowing him to catch up enough to tackle Muttski. The two tumbled to the ground, Sonic gripping Muttski's collar as the dog tried to use his advanced strength to get away. But Sonic's own strength was able to hold him down so that the dog could not run away again.

"I really, really should have brought your leash, boy," Sonic scowled as he picked himself up. As he did Sonic felt his jaw go slack when he saw the sight in front of him. There was a hole at least eighteen feet wide, the surface caved in except at one side, which Sonic realised at a closer examination that the surround debris in that area appeared to have been dug away.

Dug away by something very large.

So shocked by the sight, as all the searching he had done over the last two days he had never seen this hole before, Sonic did not realise that Muttski was still struggling to get out of Sonic's grip. Sonic released the dog and watched as he sniffed around the edges of the hole, a strangled whine escaping his throat with slight disappointment.

"Whoa! Look at the size of that hole," Tails exclaimed, startling Sonic. He had not even realised that his friends had come up behind him.

Rotor pulled out his flashlight and shone the light down the hole, revealing all the twisted metal and piled of dirt that filled most of the hole's first layer.

"Looks like this used to be a building," Rotor observed as he tilted the flashlight further down. "And there seems to be a couple of layers the more you go down."

A thought occurred to Sonic. He peeled off his backpack and pulled out his map, unfolding it and laying it on the ground. Looking over it he realised that this area had not been checked by the other search parties, yet they were at least forty-five metres away from where Bunnie's last transmission had come from. Sonic wondered why this area had not been searched.

"Ew, what is that awful smell?" Tails suddenly scowled, covering his nose with a paw. Sonic looked up and took a cautious sniff, then regretted it. The air here smelt worse than the rest of the city, as there was a sharp acidy sting to it. It made his eyes water for a moment.

"I think that's what reeks, Tails," Rotor answered, pointing to the other side of the hole. Piled up near the edge of the hole were large barrels of acid and crude oil. Some had been pierced opened and tipped, their deadly contents leaking around them. Some of the metal that was unfortunate to be near the liquid had been eaten away.

"Maybe that's why no one searched here, that stuff's rancid," Sonic muttered, waving his hand at the air around him. The smell was starting to give him a headache.

"What should we do then? Keep moving?" Tails asked. Sonic stood and folded the map again.

"Nope, we're going down there to take a look," he commented.

"But we've been here for over two hours. We're due back now," Rotor brought up. In response Sonic pointed to the barrels again.

"If we don't check this hole now by tomorrow it'll be dripping with that stuff. And if Bunnie is down there she's gonna cop the lot of it unless we get her out of there now."

Rotor considered the statement, finding it to be true. "Shouldn't we at least tell Sally that we're going to be late?"

"I think she'll figure that out on her own. Besides it won't take that long to climb down," Sonic said. He then walked over to the edge and kicked away some wooden planks, then bent down and climbed in feet first.

"Just follow my lead, guys. Some of this stuff doesn't look too stable," he called out just as he disappeared deeper into the hole.

"Well, that's reassuring," Rotor murmured, but still followed the blue hedgehog. Tails took a hold of Muttski and hovered in after Rotor, using Muttski's glowing eyes as a light as they made their way further into the abyss.


	3. Chapter 3

"Kaitlyn, are you in here?"

Kaitlyn jumped in her seat and shoved the object she was examining into her desk drawer, then stood and move away from the desk and to the door. But when she opened it Kaitlyn realised that is was only Griff, and relaxed.

"Hi, Griff. How are you?" she asked casually.

"Good, thanks. I didn't get you at a bad time, did I?" Griff questioned.

"No, not at all. I was just... cleaning up a bit," she explained, voice somewhat trailing off as she noticed Bunnie standing next to the goat. The familiar feeling of self-consciousness overwhelmed Bunnie as the fox's vision trailed down to her legs, a look of stunned awe on her face.

"Ah, okay then. Well this is Bunnie, you've met her already," Griff said, snapping Kaitlyn out of her trance and relieving Bunnie of her discomfort.

"Howdy," she greeted, giving Kaitlyn a slight wave.

"Hi, I'm Kaitlyn," Kaitlyn returned, taking a hold of Bunnie's real hand and shaking it. "Did you two want to come in?"

"Yes, please. I actually need your help with something if that's all right," Griff explained. Kaitlyn stepped away from the door and allowed Griff to walk in, the goat making his way into the main room of Kaitlyn's apartment, then followed Bunnie as she walked in and closed the door behind herself.

As she followed Griff Bunnie was surprised to see that Kaitlyn's apartment was built with the usual rooms of a house, like a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen along with a main room, but there were not any walls separating the rooms. Bunnie also noticed that on some of the shelves that donned the main walls that formed the apartment there was various picture frames complete with photographs, but none of them were of Kaitlyn or anyone that resembled her family save for two.

Kaitlyn saw that Bunnie was looking at the photos and ran over to the shelves, pushing the frames facedown as soon as she reached them.

"It's all right, Kaitlyn. You don't have to hide your things from Bunnie, she's from the Surface," Griff reassured. Kaitlyn faced the cyborb rabbit and looked her over, again focusing on her legs, then carefully stood the frames up.

"What did you need my help with, again?" Kaitlyn asked as she walked over to Griff and sat down, offering a chair to Bunnie and watching her sit.

"It's actually two things, I hope you don't mind. First, do you think you could take a look at Bunnie's arm? She can't seem to move it, and I'm not sure what's wrong exactly," Griff clarified.

"I can do that, no problem. I'll just get my tools--" Kaitlyn went to stand, but Griff raised a hoofed hand for her to wait.

"Just one more thing before you do go. We also need your help to get Bunnie out of here without anyone seeing her. You see she needs to get back home as soon as she can, apparently we've been digging under her village.

" Kaitlyn covered her mouth in shock. "Oh no, are you sure?" she breathed.

"Pretty shure, sugah. 'nd th't is why Ah need mah arm fixed, mah friends might need mah help to clean up any damage," Bunnie explained. Kaitlyn began rubbing the back of her neck in thought, lips pursed.

"That's bad, hopefully we can..."

The door suddenly burst open, making Kaitlyn jump from her seat. She stood behind Griff as a lizard stepped up to the door and looked around the room.

"Kaitlyn, is Griff in here still? I saw him walk in and knew that you might be showing him more junk," the lizard commented, a small grin stretching through his scaled lips.

"Kevin, I really don't want to warn you again about that," Griff scowled, walking over to the lizard. Kevin smirked, mischief playing on his lips.

"She knows I'm only mucking around, don't you, 'lyn?"

Kaitlyn just looked away, wringing her tail in her hands. Bunnie watched the fox do this unusual habit, noting how intimidated she appeared.

"What did you want, Kevin?" Griff questioned.

"One of the pipes in the tunnel is leaking again, it's only a little bit but still just thought I'd let you know," Kevin informed. Griff groaned to himself, and began rubbing at his eyes in a stressed manner.

"Not again. Thanks, Kev. I'll take a look at it now before too much gas gets out," he said.

"We also need Kaitlyn's help," the lizard added, although his tone of voice sounded reluctant to admit the idea. "One of the digging machines' gears are jammed up, and the mechanic can't get to it."

At this Griff cringed. Now he would not be able to work out a plan with Kaitlyn, and Kaitlyn would not have a chance to help Bunnie with her arm. He gave Bunnie an apologetic look, receiving a reassuring glance from the cyborg rabbit, then spoke.

"All right. Kaitlyn, Bunnie. Let's go."

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As the last Rat-Bot landed on the ground the first leader had just finished scanning the tunnel they had reached. Thanks to their sturdy claws and flexible bodies climbing down a vertical drop was made easy for the robots, and the descent only took them about five to ten minutes.

According to the leader's scan results the tunnel stretched at least ten to twelve kilometres from their current position, as far as they could tell due to their scanners' limited range. To their right was another system of connecting tunnels that led further down, while to their left at the very end of the tunnel was a large gap of empty space filled with various heat sources.

Unable to determine what type of heat sources, the leading Rat-Bot decided that perhaps it would be best to explore the tunnels on their right, as according to their scanners those tunnels were empty. And if their face-less Master was able to get that robotic dog they had encountered before to follow them here, it would surely get lost in the labyrinth.

Finding the deduction logical in all sense, the leader began making its way to the right, the others following closely.

Fifteen minutes later Sonic jumped the last five feet to the ground, landing with a quiet grunt. Brushing off the dirt from his hands he looked up in time for a shower of dirt to spray right into his face. Suppressing a growl Sonic shook the dirt out of his eyes, sneezing out whatever got into his nose.

"Sorry, Sonic. My fault," Rotor called down shyly.

"No, it's fine, Rote'," Sonic assured as he rubbed at his eyes, again sneezing. "Can you see your way down all right?"

There was silence for a moment, then: "No, it's too dark."

"Toss me your flashlight, I'll help you down," Sonic offered. His ears twitched at the sound of Rotor going through his tool belt, then a disk of light appeared as the walrus flicked on the switch.

"Here it comes," Rotor informed, then tossed the flashlight down. Sonic caught it, almost hitting the wall in his effort, then shone the light onto Rotor. A few minutes later the walrus was safely on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Are you all right?" Sonic asked. Rotor nodded.

"Just not used to climbing. Better check on Tails," he said, before fishing out a bottle of water from his backpack. Sonic shone the light up again, and found Tails at least ten feet off the ground. He was descending at a slow pace, carefully weaving his way through the metal rafters that had fallen into the hole. Muttski kept dead still in the fox kit's grip, not daring to move in case it caused Tails to drop him.

"Doing great, Tails. Need any help with Muttski?" Sonic questioned.

"No thanks. I'm okay," Tails responded, although Muttski gave a worried whine and a pitiful glance at his master. Sonic could not help but smirk.

"Guess Muttski isn't used to climbing either," he remarked. When Tails was low enough Sonic stretched out his arms and took Muttski, placing him on the ground as Tails landed.

"You know, these tunnels sit directly under our emergency tunnels back home," Rotor informed, gazing up to the roof of the tunnel. "And these look like they've been dug by some sort of machine, the walls are too smooth and large to have been dug by an animal."

"They're a little too deep to belong to Robotropolis, so 'Buttnik didn't dig them," Sonic said. He shone the flashlight around the wall and the ground, and as he did a flash of silver shone in the light. Sonic focussed onto the source of the shine, then cocked his head to one side with surprise, as the source was a silver pipe embedded into the tunnel's wall.

"Hey, check this out," Sonic called while he walked over to the pipe. Rotor and Tails followed the hedgehog, Muttski wandering off a short way away as he sniffed along the ground, and were also surprised when they took a closer look.

"They look like gas pipes to me," Rotor stated, then gave the pipe a tap with his fingers, listening to the hollowed echo that resulted.

Sonic held an ear to the pipe. "Yeah, I can hear the gas going through. But why would there be pipes so deep underground?"

"Maybe there's a bank of natural gas around here somewhere. We keep our gas pipes pretty deep in the ground, too," Rotor guessed.

"Sonic, the pipe continues down the tunnel," Tails pointed out. "Maybe we can follow it."

The hedgehog shook his head. "Nah, maybe some other time, bro. We came down here to find Bunnie, not check gas pipes," he reasoned. All at once Tails looked disappointed, but nodded in agreement.

"You're right, I suppose."

"Cool. When we do find Bunnie we'll come back here and look around," Sonic promised to the kit. "Now let's get climbing."

But as the trio headed back to the opening in the tunnel they came through Muttski charged over to Sonic and took a hold of the cuff of his glove with his mouth, yanking Sonic back.

"Whoa, Muttski. What's your problem?" Sonic demanded as he attempted to yank his glove out of the dog's mouth. Muttski continued to pull Sonic back until they were a few metres away from the opening, where on the ground was a small pool of blood. Sonic's eyes widened at the sight, and he dropped to one knee to examine the blood.

"This is fairly fresh," Sonic muttered.

"Fairly fresh?" Tails questioned. Sonic pointed to the edges of the pool of blood, showing that they were dry and a rusted colour, but the centre was still wet. Sonic sniffed, Bunnie's familiar scent mixed with the coppery smell of the blood reaching his nose.

"You know what? I bet it is Bunnie's," Sonic proclaimed. "Isn't it, boy?"

In response Muttski gave a loud bark, and his tail began wagging with anticipation. Sonic stood and pointed the flashlight down the tunnel.

"Well, looks like we get to follow the pipes after all, Tails. Muttski, lead the way."

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Finally, after hours of programming, cutting wires, running up and down stairs to get to different branches of the station, and pulling rocks out of keyboards, the network command centre was up and running with its own power.

Robotnik stood and basked in the multiple glows of the computer monitors and fluorescent lights, feeling like a god. He watched as his computers fell back into their programmed routine, showing feeds from hundreds of cameras around the city and environment stats. Even though all the feeds showed nothing but destruction and chaos, Robotnik felt in control once again.

"Snively, report," he rumbled. The tiny Overlander slipped over to a much more advanced computer, glad to be able to use a computer that would now be able to keep up with him, and began calling up numerous windows and programs.

"Power has returned to approximately twenty percent of the city, including half of the Doomsday Device's sight. Remote command points have been cleared from all interferences and able to send commands to the surviving SWATbots."

"Excellent," Robotnik purred, drumming his fingers in a slow motion. "Are you able to track the Rat-Pack? I suspect the Freedom Fighters may have attempted to sneak in here while we were... vulnerable."

Snively punched in more commands, using the network system to access the programs from the old computer he had been using before. Once the Rat-Bots' tracking program was executed Snively noted with disbelief that the robots were deep underground.

"Well?"

"Sir, the Rat-Bots appear to be underground," Snively informed, turning in his chair slightly. If the statement surprised Robotnik he did not show it, but instead he bent over his nephew and glared at the computer screen to see for himself. Eventually his bloated lips slivered into a pursed position.

"Sent a small squadron of SWATbots to their location. Perhaps they have found a Freedom Fighter hiding there, and may require assistance with their capture," he ordered after a moment of thought.

"Yes, Sir," Snively confirmed, already punching in commands.

Around the city all the still functioning SWATbots suddenly stopped and stood stock-still as a new message weaved through their receivers. Then simultaneously they began making their way towards the Western Regions, heavy footsteps echoing through the empty streets.

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Bunnie gawked at the massive steel door that blocked the main exit to Lower Mobius. It was at least six feet high, and Griff had mentioned that it was two feet thick. Experimentally Bunnie rapped her knuckles on the door, listening to the sound echo through the thick steel.

From behind her Griff pulled out what appeared to be a pen, but when he pressed a button on the pen's surface the security lock on the door beeped, and the jaws of the door began to slide open at a fast rate, squeaking slightly as they slid into their sheathes.

"These are our security doors. They were installed when my grandfather built Lower Mobius, just in case the Overlanders managed to find the tunnels. We also use them as floodgates during the rainy season; you'll be surprised at how much water does get in here. We have another two further down this tunnel," Griff explained to Bunnie as he led her outside into the main tunnel.

"You'll be staying with Kaitlyn while Kevin and I work on the pipes. That way the two of you can think up a plan to get you home, and Kaitlyn can work on your arm if she has time," he added.

Bunnie nodded. "Sounds fair ta meh, sugah. By th' way, where is Kaitlyn?"

"She's with Kevin getting a hover car." Griff cocked his head, an ear perking up slightly. "Here they come now."

Like Griff said the two Mobians drove up to them in a small yellow hover car. The engine was quite noisy unlike the hoverunits found in Robotropolis, and the vehicle looked like it had taken on a bit of damage over the years, judging by its chipped paintwork and dented exterior. Kaitlyn jumped out of the car while Kevin scooted over in her place, allowing Griff to climb into the driver's seat.

"We'll be back as soon as we can. Kaitlyn, look after Bunnie," Griff said. Kaitlyn gave a short salute.

"Will do, Griff," she called as Griff took off down the tunnel, exhaust and flame trailing after the little hover car. She then began walking down the tunnel, then turned to her left and seemingly disappeared into the wall. Bunnie blinked, not knowing what had just happened.

"Kaitlyn?" she yelled. She was relieved when the fox poked her head out, although she was doing it through the wall.

"Sorry, follow me," she said in a sheepish voice. Bunnie hesitated for a moment, then carefully made her way to where Kaitlyn's head was. Once there Bunnie realised that the fox had not disappeared into the wall, because there was no wall to disappear into. Further exploration showed Bunnie that another tunnel had been dug into the side.

"Come on, this way," Kaitlyn urged as she began walking down the new tunnel. Bunnie ran up to the fox, keeping close as the passageway began to grow darker.

"Where're we goin'?" Bunnie asked.

"This is where we keep our digging machine. We have two, the other one is in the northern branch and is a bit smaller. I use this one really late at night whenever I want to go to the Surface, because it has a drill that can stretch right up into the ceiling. We're only meant to use that to drill air holes and such, but I discovered by accident that it could pierce all the way through," Kaitlyn explained.

"'nd... how far down does this tunn'l go?" Bunnie began fanning her hand in front of her face, suddenly feeling claustrophobic. She felt fine while in the colony, but that was because there was plenty of light and space there. In this subway it was pitch black, and she could not see how big the space was or if the walls were starting to get smaller or not.

"We're almost there. Here, I'll hold your hand so you don't bump into anything," Kaitlyn suggested. A moment later Bunnie felt Kaitlyn's hand slip itself into her own, and gave it a tight squeeze.

"Hey, Bunnie. Can I ask you something?" Kaitlyn asked shyly.

"Shure, sugah," Bunnie confirmed. Kaitlyn stayed silent for a few heartbeats, Bunnie's keen hearing picking up the fine sound of the fox's lips separating and pressing back together as she tried to form the words. Then:

"Your legs, did they used to be real?"

Bunnie stopped in her tracks. So quickly she had stopped that Kaitlyn was not prepared, and she bumped into Bunnie from the recoil.

"W--why do ya wanna know th't?" Bunnie breathed at a length.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I was just wondering because..." Kaitlyn's voice trailed off. "I'll show you in a minute."

They began walking again. Bunnie felt her heart grown heavy with the anticipation of telling the story behind her robotized limbs. No matter how many times she told the story Bunnie could never come to terms with the horrific experience. Ever since she fell victim to the Robotizer all those years ago there had not been a night where she prayed for a way to get her body back, nor a day where she cursed herself for existing in such a state. Covering her angst had become an art from to the rabbit, to the point where she was sure none of her friends knew that she was still suffering.

She thought about what Griff had said earlier, feeling somewhat better. Although she realised just now that he did not react to her robotized limbs like other strangers she met did – in shock or horror or even fear – but he seemed to overlook them, like as if he did not even notice them until she had pointed them out to him. Bunnie found that quite odd; the goat did not even ask about them or resist touching her arm when he examined it. And now Kaitlyn was asking about them, but not with the morbid tone she was so used to, but with genuine awe, perhaps even hope.

"Here we are," Kaitlyn suddenly announced, startling Bunnie out of her thoughts. The rabbit looked around, realising that the room they were now in had light. She gave a relieved sigh and linked to get her eyes to adjust, feeling the anxiety from both being in a dark space for so long and the shock of the fox's question melt away.

"Finall'," she commented, then released Kaitlyn's hand and watched her walk further into the cavern. As she did Bunnie noticed the large machine that sat in the middle of the room. The machine appeared ancient, the once silver hull now a dirty shade of grey with patches of light rust and muck, and in front of it was a massive drill, the tip somewhat dulled down due to constant usage. At the top Bunnie saw the little drill Kaitlyn had mentioned before, it too somewhat dulled down by constant usage.

"Hello, anyone here?" Kaitlyn yelled, her voice bouncing off the walls.

"Over here, Kaitlyn," a new voice answered, and a second later a male black mole appeared from behind the machine. He wore a pair of overalls similar to Kaitlyn's, although the knees appeared to have been patched up multiple times with different coloured materials, and had a thick tool belt around his waist. The mole was somewhat podgy, but moved with great ease as he made his way around the machine.

"Glad you could make it, this jalopy is giving me heck," the mole remarked.

"You know I'm always happy to help out, Bradley," Kaitlyn commented, smiling brightly at the mole.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it," Bradley said. Then he noticed Bunnie standing behind the fox. "Hello, who are you?"

Before Bunnie could open her mouth Kaitlyn butted in, placing a hand on the rabbit's shoulder to let her know that she would do all the talking for her, at least for now.

"This is Bunnie, she's... she's from the Southern Branch. She came down here to get some help with her arm," the fox explained, pointing to Bunnie's arm in the sling. Bradley took a closer look at Bunnie's arm, eyebrows raised in a surprised manner.

"I didn't know there were other Mobians here with artificial limbs. Did you want me to take a look for you, miss?" Bradley offered. Bunnie's ears cocked back quizzically, wondering how many Mobians could possibly have artificial limbs.

"Oh, that'll be great. I was going to but then Kevin told me that you needed help, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to now," Kaitlyn exclaimed.

"All right. First I'll show you where the problem is, and then I'll see what I can do," the mole said, smirking.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Anyone else feeling claustrophobic?" Sonic question. "'cause I'm starting to. How long have we been walking for?"

Rotor shone his flashlight onto his watch, squinting at the numbers. "About twenty minutes I think," he reported, before wiping away the sweat that was dripping over his eyes.

Beside him Tails landed heavily, panting. He had been flying for the whole trip through the tunnel, mostly out of habit and more so to keep up with Sonic, as he had set a fast pace once again.

"It feels like forever, I don't think this tunnel ends," he moaned in between pants. He began dragging his feet, allowing his tired out tails to lug behind him.

"Well I can't see any more blood, but Muttski's still following something," Sonic remarked as he shone his own flashlight onto Muttski, whom was walking a little ahead of him. "Will you be all right?"

In response Tails pressed a paw to his head, running a fingertip over the cut that ran across his forehead. "I feel kinda dizzy, and tired," he explained. Sonic redirected his flashlight to look at Tails, noting how rundown he now appeared.

"Hang on a sec." Sonic stopped walking and bent down to the fox's height, scooping him up into his arms. As soon as his head touched Sonic's shoulder Tails gave a relieved sigh, falling somewhat limp against Sonic. Sonic heave a lament sigh, the sound mixing itself with a tired growl, then he petted Tails' head.

"Sorry, bro. Guess this was a waste of time for us," he murmured.

"It's okay, at least we know Bunnie's not here," the fox murmured back, before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep. Guilt flushed through Sonic's heart, making it grow heavy with defeat and remorse for himself.

"I pushed him too hard. I should have taken him home ages ago," Sonic muttered in a flat voice.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Sonic. Tails would have wanted to stay with us even if It did take all night, you know that," Rotor pointed out. Sonic flattened his ears, allowing his shoulders to slacken.

"At this rate it probably will. Tails should be back home in his bed safe; we all should be."

His voice trailed off, and seemed to land into a pit of sadness that engulfed the hedgehog. Like before when he was angry Sonic's whole body reflected the feeling he was now in, from lowered eyes to dragged feet, which surprised Rotor. It was always hard to bring the hedgehog down, as he had a knack for always finding the bright side, but now it appeared that all Sonic could see was pitch black.

Then Sonic stopped dead in his tracks, keeping his head down and falling behind Rotor and Muttski.

"Let's head back, I shouldn't have dragged you two down here like this," he stated, voice low and lifeless, before he turned on his heels and began walking back the way they came.

"We can't stop now, what if we're almost at the end?" Rotor questioned.

"How can we be? There's no light coming from anywhere, that would have told us we were near the end," Sonic said. "We're just wasting our time, it was a stupid idea to come here." Rotor stared blank-eyed at his friend, not believing what he was saying. Even Muttski was staring.

"Well... I'm not going to stop. We found Bunnie's blood, so that means she was here at one stage. And Muttski's still trailing something, maybe Bunnie got up and is still wandering around," Rotor protested.

"I doubt it. I could smell Bunnie's scent back there, but it's long gone now. So we're leaving, now," Sonic sneered.

"You've could have just lost it. If we leave now only to find out later that Bunnie was down here you'll be kicking yourself."

Sonic stopped walking and faced Rotor, a dangerous glare on his face. "Right now I'm kicking myself for coming down here and wasting the time we could have used to look around Robotropolis. Now let's go before I really get ticked off and drag you out by the nose."

As he said that Sonic tensed his fingers, his long black claws unsheathing themselves. Rotor backed away half a millimetre at the sight, knowing well what damage they could do. But then he gritted his teeth and stood firm.

"Then drag me out by the nose, because I'm not leaving," he remarked. Sonic's eyes widened at the remark, but then they slowly narrowed, his slit pupils dilating as his anger rose.

"Fine," he uttered, voice mixing into a savage growl. But before he could make his move Muttski began to bark madly, distracting both the hedgehog and the walrus. Sonic relaxed his body and stepped up to his dog, grabbing his collar when he realised that he was about to run off.

At his shoulder Tails stirred and began pawing at his eyes, woken up by the dog's loud barking.

"What's going on?" he asked around a yawn. Sonic set Tails down, keeping him steady as he woke up a little more.

"I think Muttski heard something," Sonic explained shortly. When the dog's barking increased in volume Sonic knew that he had guessed right. So he released Muttski's collar, allowing Muttski to run.

"Why did you do that for?" Rotor exclaimed, shocked by what Sonic had just done.

"Letting Muttski prove to me that this wasn't a waste of time. Come on," Sonic answered, before revving up his legs and taking off after Muttski.


	4. Chapter 4

"Almost done..."

Bunnie gritted her teeth as a slight jabbing pain raced through her shoulder, the pain resulting from Bradley's tinkering in her robotized arm. But she knew that if she could feel pain originating from her arm it meant that it would be functioning.

The mole twisted his wrist as he yanked the last wire back in its place with his tweezers, then carefully pushed a microchip plate over it.

"Finished," he announced, then replaced the metal panel on Bunnie's arm. "Now give that a go."

Carefully Bunnie flexed her fingers, feeling overjoyed when they responded to her command. She then pulled her arm back, twisting it at the shoulder, then bending at the elbow.

"Stars alive, y'all fixed it!" she cried. Bradley grinned as he sat back in his chair, pleased with himself.

"That arm of yours shouldn't give you any more trouble now, Miss Bunnie. But I'd take it easy when you use it, a lot of parts got knocked about in there and I'm not sure how secure they are," he pointed out.

"Oh dun worry, Ah won't. Ah c'n nevah be shure with this thang, it's always givin' meh grief," Bunnie commented. "Thank ya so much."

"You're welcome, glad to help out. Though I have to say that arm sure has a complicated design. It's nothing like Kaitlyn's at all," he stated.

Bunnie furrowed her eyebrows at the mole, looking completely confused. "Excuse meh?" she asked. At once Bradley looked surprised.

"Oh, didn't you know? Kaitlyn's left leg is artificial. She's had the thing her whole life, the poor thing. And she hates it with a passion," he explained.

"Ah... see. Poor deah..."

Bradley pulled out a rag from his overalls' pocket and wiped his hands through them, at the same time checking his watch. "Better check on Kaitlyn and see how's she's doing. We need to get the machine up and running so we can dig a new tunnel before Light Out. After Light Outs we can't use any power in this branch," the mole explained as he stood, then made his way to where the machine was. Bunnie dawdled behind, still trying to get over the fact that Kaitlyn had an artificial limb.

"Was th't why she asked 'bout mah limbs?" she wondered to herself. Bunnie decided to ask the fox, and confess the story behind her robotized limbs.

A few minutes later Bunnie found Kaitlyn lying under the digging machine as she tinkered with the gears, only her legs sticking out. Bradley was standing nearby, chatting with Kaitlyn as he handed her tools she requested.

"-- that was the main problem, Bradley. Just a whole mess of rocks and mud clogging up the gears here. Some of the wiring got tangled up as well way back here," Bunnie heard Kaitlyn explain as the fox pulled herself further in. "And I think one of the pipes have snapped because of it."

"You're joking? We really needed to get this thing going before tonight, I don't think I have any spare pipes on hand here, Kaitlyn," Bradley moaned. For the moment Kaitlyn said nothing as she worked on getting the broken pipe out, handing it over to the mole once it was loose.

"Maybe you can just weld it back together, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle," she suggested as she pulled herself out and sat up, stretching out her back.

"Maybe... if I can weld it hopefully it'll hold for the job tonight," Bradley murmured. "Thanks for your help, I doubt I would have been able to get under there myself."

"No problem. I just hope you can fix it in time. If you need any more help just give me a yell," Kaitlyn commented. Bradley nodded and made his way to the back of the room, disappearing into another section that was hidden in the wall.

"Y'all shure have a knack with machines. How do ya know so much 'bout mechanics, sugah-fox?" Bunnie remarked as she sat down next to Kaitlyn.

"My dad used to be a mechanic. He showed me all the basics, and after he died I began training to become a mechanic. I'm still in training, but I get to help with a lot of things, as you saw just now," Kaitlyn explained. "Bradley was dad's best friend, and his second mechanic. He offered me the training when dad mentioned that I was interested in machines."

"Th't'll explain why Griff asked ya ta help meh first. Rotah would love ta meetcha, 'nd Tails," Bunnie commented.

"I'd love to meet them too if I could, but once we help you home I might not be able to see you again," Kaitlyn sighed.

"Oh, Ah actually didn't think of th't," Bunnie murmured, feeling guilty. "Though maybeh Ah c'n sneak back in every so often, a lot o' Mobians think th't Ah do live heah anyway."

"It's too risky, if someone found out that you're really from the Surface Griff will get into a lot of trouble. And I think he has enough to worry about," Kaitlyn said.

"True, Ah suppose."

They sat in silence for a while, Kaitlyn busying herself with wiping the grease and mud from her paws and watching Bunnie as she tested her robotic arm.

"Kaitlyn, why did y'all ask meh 'bout mah limbs?" Bunnie suddenly asked, startling the fox so much that the shock caused her to drop the rag she was using.

"Well, I..." she began as she picked up the rag again, and started twisting it in her paws.

"Bradley told meh th't you've got an artificial leg, is th't true?" Bunnie elaborated. Kaitlyn bowed her head, the twisting of the rag increasing as she became more nervous.

"Yeah, it's true," she stated in a low voice. With great hesitation Kaitlyn reached out and grabbed the end of her pants leg and pulled it up to her thigh.

At once Bunnie gasped, not even realising that she had made the sound, and examined the now revealed leg. The design of the leg mimicked the structure of the leg's bone, only replacing bones with thin steel poles and joints with steel balls. To reinforce the frame metal braces were placed in-between the gaps of the poles, but the braces had small joints in the middle to allow flexibility. That explained how Kaitlyn did not walk with a limp, as one would expect from a person with a synthetic leg.

"See? This is why I asked; when I first saw yours I was actually kinda happy. Happy that someone else knew what it was like to be like this," Kaitlyn explained as she pulled down the pants leg again, straightening out the material.

"How didja get th't? Was it because of 'n accident?" Bunnie asked, still somewhat startled by the discovery. Kaitlyn gave a harsh snort.

"I wish. No, somehow it just didn't develop properly, and I got the synthetic when I was about two years old. I hated it so much because I got picked on for it, and a lot of the other kids didn't let me near them."

"Lahk Kevin?"

Kaitlyn nodded.

"But then they found other things to tease me about. Because I didn't get to play with anyone I got a lot of time to myself, and I picked up reading some of the older books we have here from before Lower Mobius was built.

But then I started thinking that maybe life above the Surface was still possible. When Kevin and his friends found that out they never let it go. And of course that affected what little popularity I did have, to the point where only some of the older residents here take me seriously now."

Then Kaitlyn gave a short laugh. "Sorry, you didn't want to hear my life story. I didn't mean to trail off like that," she commented, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Naw, th't is all right, sugah-fox. Ah dun mind," Bunnie remarked, waving it off.

"So how did you get yours? It's amazing that both your legs are artificial, and your arm, though I'm guessing you didn't get them because of a birth defect," Kaitlyn stated.

"Ah wish, sugah. Ah really do."

Bunnie drew in a deep, silent breath, the dark anticipation already consuming her heart. "Years ago, aftah Robotnik took ovah, Ah got caught while Ah was in th' city. 'nd Ah was put inta his Robotizer."

"What's a Robotizer?" Kaitlyn interrupted.

"Somethang y'all nevah want ta go near. It turns your body inta th's."

With her normal hand Bunnie knocked her knuckles onto her leg.

"'nd if ya don't make it out in time, y'all become a mindless, soulless creatuah. Ah suppose Ah was lucky, but..." She stared down at her legs, then at her arm. "Sometimes Ah do wondah if Ah woulda been bettah off as complete robot."

By the end of her statement Bunnie could feel tears sting at the corners of her eyes, and realised that Kaitlyn was on the verge of tears herself.

"So... so you can't change back?" the fox whispered.

"Fer now Ah can't, but we're workin' on it. Th't is why Ah became a Freedom Fightah, so at least Ah c'n help stop th's from happenin' ta anyone else," Bunnie said. Kaitlyn bowed her head, her ears lowering in a depressed state.

"I'm so sorry, Bunnie," she murmured, pawing at her eyes.

"Now why are y'all apologisin'? You didn't do th's ta meh, 'nd y'all didn't know how it happened so it isn't your fault," Bunnie exclaimed, elbowing the fox gently.

"I know, it's just so sad." Kaitlyn rubbed her eyes hard, sniffling slightly. Bunnie wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders and pulled her close, gripping her in a single-armed hug.

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By the time Rotor and Tails had caught up with Sonic, a massive steel door blocking their way had stopped the hedgehog and his dog. Muttski was busy sniffing at the doors' edges, walking up and down its length over and over, while Sonic was tapping his fingers at different points of the steel, listening for any weaknesses.

"It sounds thick, I don't think I can spin through it," Sonic commented as he gave the door a kick. Nevertheless he stepped back and launched himself at the barricade, bouncing repeatedly when the first attack did not cause any damage. But after about a minute of this the hedgehog uncurled himself and landed, rubbing at his now aching head.

"Are you all right?" Tails asked. Sonic held back a frustrated growl and nodded.

"If I could still use the Power Rings I probably could cut through, but it's too thick for now," he said as he stood, then walked over to the door again and ran his hand over it. The doors showed no signs of damage, much to the hedgehog's dismay.

As all this took place Rotor watched with a sullen expression, feeling his heart sink as Sonic proved that they could not break down the door. He took a closer look at the door, focussing on the areas Sonic had ricochet off, and did not even find the tiniest scratch. The walrus lower his head and leaned against the door, defeated.

"So this was a waste of time," he muttered, pawing at his eyes. Sonic also leaned against the door, and simply nodded. The look on his face was nothing but regret.

"What should we do now?" Tails questioned.

"Head back, there isn't much point being here. Besides, I think I can smell gas coming from the other side of the door, and that can't be a good sign," Sonic remarked. Tails took a cautious sniff at the door, smelling the sharp scent of natural gas. He backed away from the door quickly.

"Get a grip, guys. I don't want to waste any more time down here so I'm gonna juice it," Sonic offered as he bent over and scooped up Muttski into his arms. The dog gave a disheartened whine and licked his master, making Sonic smile faintly.

"I know, boy. You did your best, too," Sonic said. Behind him Rotor grabbed hold of Sonic's shoulders, Tails gripping onto the walrus' and forming a short chain. When they were secured Sonic leaped into the air and began revving up his legs, just as the doors suddenly slid open with a loud squeak.

Distracted by the action Sonic stopped moving his legs and landed face first on the ground, Rotor and Tails landing on top of him with a protested grunt. Before they could begin arguing with one another they found themselves bathed in a bright light, and they turned to see a small hover car floating behind them. In the hover car were two Mobians, Griff and Kevin, who were looking at them just as surprised as they were.

"Who are you?" Griff exclaimed, staring blank-eyed. Slowly Sonic, Tails and Rotor stood, Muttski standing in front of them and growling at the two Mobians in the hover car.

"We could ask you the same thing, pal," Sonic retorted. "What the heck are you guys doing underground like this?"

Griff lowered the hover car onto the ground and shut off the engine, keeping the headlights on. "This is our home, that's why we're underground," he remarked as he climbed out of the vehicle and walked up to Sonic. "Now answer my question."

"Fine, I'm Sonic. This is Rotor, Tails, and my dog Muttski. And we're from above ground, so forgive us if we seem totally shocked to see Mobians wandering around down here."

"Bulldust! Everyone knows that anything above the ground was totally obliterated during the Great War," Kevin yelled as he jumped out of the hover car and crossed over to Sonic, pointing an accusing finger at the hedgehog.

"It's rude to point, kid. And if everything was obliterated like you say so, then where did we come from? The moon?" Sonic snapped. "Or was that obliterated too?"

Kevin hissed, his golden eyes narrowing as he balled up a fist. Griff placed a paw onto his shoulder to calm the lizard before addressing the hedgehog.

"Excuse me, but we have been living underground for over twenty years, so forgive us if we're a little behind. We don't exactly get a lot of visitors down here, nor do we have reason to go to the Surface ourselves," he explained in a calm voice.

"But why are you living underground? And how did you end up here?" Rotor questioned.

"We don't have to tell you anything," Kevin growled. "You're trespassing on our turf."

"This isn't exactly turf, kid," Sonic remarked, rolling his eyes before rubbing at them. "Look, we're not here to cause any trouble. We're just looking for a friend of ours. She's a tall rabbit, with a thick Southern accent and purple robotized legs and left arm. Have you seen anyone like that or did your friend here lay the smack down on her for trespassing on his 'turf'?"

Griff bit at his bottom lip, taking nervous glances at Kevin from the corner of his eye. "Kevin, how about you take a look at the pipes? Let me talk to these guys for a minute," he requested.

"You sure you don't need me to help you talk to these guys?" Kevin asked, before punching a fist into his open palm.

"If you're looking for a fight I'm willing to give it to you, I'm really not in the mood for your crud right now," Sonic growled, baring his teeth at the lizard. Amazingly enough Kevin gasped and shuddered away at the sudden appearance of Sonic's sharp teeth. For good measure Sonic gave a savage growl, hissing at the lizard until he went to do what Griff had told him to do.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Griff scowled as he guided the Mobians further down the tunnel and out of Kevin's hearing range.

"I know, I just wanted him to shut up. We haven't had a very good few days, and his smart mouth wasn't helping," Sonic said.

"Kevin can get pretty uptight when it comes to his home." Griff glanced back at the lizard to make sure that he could not hear them. "Your friend's name wouldn't happen to be Bunnie?"

At once the trio gasped, smiles stretching across all their faces.

"That's her, yeah! Is she down here? Is she all right?" Sonic asked in one breath, just barely able to hold back his excitement.

"She's here, and she's all right. Just some minor injuries, Bunnie fell through a weak point in one of our tunnels, you see," Griff explained.

"That must have been where we came down from," Tails commented. Sonic nodded in agreement.

"So can we see her? We want Bunnie home as soon as we can, everyone back home's really worried about her. We've been searching for her for nearly three days now," Sonic informed.

"Well, you see... that could be a problem," Griff confessed.

"Why?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, what's the deal? We just want to get Bunnie home," Sonic demanded.

"So do I. But she can't leave now, everyone will see her go, I have to sneak her out of here," Griff explained.

Sonic looked at Rotor and Tails, noting that they too did not understand.

"Why do you have to sneak her out? Just how many Mobians live down here, and what's the story behind them?" Sonic asked.

"It's a very long one, and I can't tell you it now. All I can tell you is if I bring you three into the colony I will get into a lot of trouble. I've already risked everything just by having Kevin see you," the goat hissed.

Sonic sighed and scratched at his ear. "Nothing's easy any more, is it? How long until you can sneak Bunnie out?" Sonic questioned.

Griff checked his watch, cringing at the time. "... At least another four hours," he said, voice heavy with lament.

"Ah man..."

"Sorry, it's just it's really risky for me to just let you in. But when I get Bunnie out we're going to be using that opening she fell through, so you guys can meet her there and I'll explain everything," Griff offered.

"We understand, just make sure Bunnie's safe when she does leave. We prefer our friends to be in one piece when returned," Sonic smirked. Griff allowed a small chuckle.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Sonic. Now, I better check on Kevin, so I'll see you guys later?" he said.

"Sure thing, bud. Although..." Sonic looked behind Griff, focussing on the little yellow hover car. "... do you mind if we just stick around near your car there? See, we've been in these tunnels for ages, and we're pretty beat and our eyes are going nuts from the lack of light down here."

Griff thought about that for a moment, eyeing the three Mobians. "Well, I see no problem in that. Go for it," he said.

"Cool, thanks," Sonic exclaimed, then led Rotor, Tails and Muttski to the hover car as Griff headed back to where Kevin was, then sat against the wall and watched the two Mobians work.

"Sonic, what are you doing?" Rotor eventually asked once he had sat down. The hedgehog settled in his place, allowing Muttski to rest his head on top of his lap and Tails to lean against him.

"We are going to follow them, that's what we're doing," Sonic responded in a whisper, emphasising the 'we'. His friends gaped at Sonic, surprised by the statement.

"But that goat said that if we go with him he'll get into trouble," Tails hissed.

"That's why we're gonna sneak in. Then we'll find Bunnie and cruise outta there, no prob. No one will see us, or know any better," Sonic elaborated.

"I don't know, Sonic," Rotor muttered, "It's a bit risky... but I have to admit I am a little curious about this colony of his. I didn't even know it existed, and I bet neither does Robotnik."

"See? It's all good," Sonic said. "So let's do it to it."

About twenty minutes later, which during that time Tails along with Muttski had drifted off to sleep again, Sonic had planned out the break-in with Rotor's help. Griff had finally walked up to the three Mobians, dusting off his paws, which were now covered with dirt and grease.

"Well, we're done here. Sorry about the long wait," he said as he got rid of the last bit of dirt in his fur.

"Nah, that's okay. At least we're okay now, right, bro?" Sonic remarked, and gently shook Tails by his shoulder. The young kitsune groaned and rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm okay now," Tails yawned, stretching himself out. Sonic stood, once Muttski had also 'woken' up and pounced onto Sonic to greet him, and shook Griff's hand.

"Thanks for all your help, we really appreciate it," he stated.

"Glad to help out, I'm just sorry that I had to dampen your plans like that," Griff said. Sonic waved it off.

"Don't worry about it, as long as Bunnie's safe we're happy."

Sonic watched as Griff and Kevin climbed back into their hover car and switched on the engine, making the small vehicle float a little off the tunnel floor.

"Just so you know, we're going to leave this door open for a few minutes so the gas can be dilated a little. So be sure you don't get trapped in here," Griff warned as the hover car spun around to face the opposite direction.

"No sweat, we'll be gone in no time anyway," Sonic reassured. Griff gave a final wave and took off, the tunnel plunging into complete darkness as the hover car disappeared deeper into the tunnel. Sonic waited a full two minutes to be sure the car was long gone, then began walking.

"Stick close, guys, and be quick but quiet," he instructed.

Up ahead Kevin kept staring at Griff, looking somewhat confused. At first Griff was able to ignore him, but after a while it started to get to him.

"What?" Griff asked.

"You said life above ground didn't exist," Kevin stated, "So where'd they come from?" Griff hesitated, not sure what to say. He was tempted to just blurt out the truth like he had wanted to every single day and night since he became leader of Lower Mobius, but the perplexed stare Kevin was giving him made Griff bite his tongue, at least for now.

"I... I don't know. I guess there are some survivors. But..."

Then an idea occurred to him.

"But did you get a close look at all of them?" he questioned. When Kevin shook his head Griff said, "I think they were mutants."

"You mean like in the stories?" Kevin exclaimed. The goat grinned, happy that the bait was taken so quickly.

"I think so. The walrus looked normal to me, but that hedgehog... he looked like he had been mutated a fair bit. And that fox had two tails, it could be because of a possible nuclear attack from the Overlanders," he murmured.

"And that dog, it was made of metal! Maybe it was wearing some sort of armour, to protect itself from the still lingering nuclear gases," Kevin added.

"Probably..."

_Maybe I went a bit too far,_ Griff mused to himself.

"Creepy, good thing we live down here, though. No nuclear crud is getting in here. Shame Kaitlyn wasn't here; those guys would have proven to her that the Surface isn't all she thinks it is," Kevin laughed. Griff sighed to himself.

_Yeah, way too far. Now I've really, really done it this time,_ he mused, mentally beating himself.

"Get ready to open the next door, and close the last one. The gas should be out by now," Griff instructed, wanting to change the subject.

"Right."

Behind them Sonic, Tails and Rotor heard the distant sound of the security doors slamming shut. They all paused for a split second, surprised by the sound, then picked up their pace until they could just see the tail-lights of the hover car before them.

"No turning back now," Sonic whispered, anticipation rising as his heart beat picked up. In the dilated darkness Tails ears twitched as Kevin opened the second door.

"Sonic, did you hear that?" he asked. Sonic perked up his ears, but all he could hear was the engine of the hover car.

"No, what was it?"

"I don't know, but it sounded like another door to me," Tails explained. Sonic gasped to himself and jogged ahead, losing the others to the darkness. As he got a little closer to the hover car Sonic could see in the headlights another door just sliding into their sheathes.

"Oh, shoot," Sonic hissed, eyes widening as the car went through and the doors began to close. "Hurry, guys!"

In a mad frenzy Tails, Rotor and Muttski started running, stumbling over loose rocks in their hast. Sonic check the door again, noting with panic that it was almost closed. Without thinking the hedgehog ran to the doors and squeezed himself in-between them, then using himself like a car-jack he began to separate the doors, the advanced strength he acquired from the mutation aiding Sonic in his task. At first Sonic thought that it was not working, as the doors continued to push down onto him, but as he forced himself to tense against the force the doors finally stopped moving, although the power pushing them closed could still be felt by the hedgehog.

As they made it to the door Rotor and Tails stopped short and gaped at the scene, not believing their eyes.

"Go... through!" Sonic growled through gritted teeth, repeating the order with more intensity when the two Mobians did not move. Snapping out of their trance Rotor made Tails dive through the gap first, then dived after once Muttski was also through.

But then a problem arose, for Sonic could not get out risking crushing himself in the process as the force behind the doors were now increasing to a point where Sonic could not hold them any more.

The problem was solved by Rotor grabbing Sonic around his torso and yanking him out in one fluent movement. The trio cringed as the doors slammed together, the sound echoing though the tunnel, then Rotor put Sonic down.

"Whoa, now that was cutting it close. I know I won't be doing that again," Sonic exclaimed, then wiped a paw over his head to swipe away the beads of sweat.

"And if you do I'm just gonna leave you there," Rotor retorted.

"Good call, Rote'."

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"Here they come," Kaitlyn exclaimed, pointing down the tunnel just as the headlights of the hover car came into view. A moment later Griff pulled up next to Kaitlyn and Bunnie as they stood, then lowered the hover car and switched off the engine.

"How'd you go?" Kaitlyn asked as Griff and Kevin climbed out of the car.

"Good, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Let's just hope we don't have any more leaks for a while," Griff explained. "How about you?"

"One of the pressure pipes under the machine snapped because of all the mud and rocks jamming up the gears around it. Bradley's working on repairing the pipe now so the machine should be ready by tonight. And Bradley fixed Bunnie's arm," Kaitlyn reported.

"Really?" Griff questioned.

"Shure did, sugah. It's as good as new now, or as close as he could get ta anyway," Bunnie commented as she flexed her arm.

"Oh, that's great! Now we'll be able to help you home tonight," Griff stated, grinning.

"Ah can't wait, sugah."

As the two spoke Kevin slipped beside Kaitlyn and nudged her with his elbow, grabbing her reluctant attention.

"Hey, Kaitlyn. You'll never guess what I saw while I was helping Griff," he whispered.

"What did you see?" Kaitlyn asked, although she did not look at the lizard while he spoke. If she had been Kaitlyn would have noticed that he was amused by her intimidation.

"Mutants, from the Surface," Kevin stated, still grinning. The fox's head shot up in a split second, surprise etched over her features. But after a moment Kaitlyn narrowed her eyes as disbelief kicked in. Kevin used to always tell such tales to her when she was younger, and had learnt many times that the lizard was a liar.

"There aren't mutants on the Surface, those are just horror stories," she huffed, crossing her arms. Kevin raised his scaly eyebrows.

"Don't believe me? Ask Griff, he saw them too, and spoke to them. They wanted to get into Lower Mobius, you know," he informed. Kaitlyn glanced over to Griff, noting that he was listening to their conversation, as well as Bunnie.

"I still don't believe you," she hissed.

"Wanna know what they looked like? I betcha that'll make you believe me," Kevin offered. When Kaitlyn rolled her eyes he took it as a yes and cleared his throat, preparing to recollect his sighting.

"There were four of them, only one was normal so I bet he was a prisoner of theirs, but the other three were horribly mutated. The first on was a sentinel dog, and it was made totally out of metal and had glowing red eyes.

The second was a fox, just like you, Kaitlyn. Only... it had two tails!"

Bunnie's eyes widened as she realised then who Kevin was talking about, and felt disgusted for what the lizard was saying about them.

"But the last one was the most dangerous and deformed one. He was a blue hedgehog, taller than Griff, and had nasty sharp teeth and claws. His eyes were yellow, kinda like mine but more cat-like, and eviller. Apparently he was the leader of the group, as he was giving me and Griff all these demands and acting all tough and mean. He even threatened to rip me apart! But I chased him off along with his group of mutants, with Griff's help."

Kevin finished, a smug grin now plastering itself across his lips. He crossed his arms and puffed out his chest.

"Well?"

"I still don't believe you," Kaitlyn said simply, also crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fine, but don't come crying to me if you find them in the tunnels," Kevin snorted. "Although, the hedgehog did ask about someone that kinda looks like you, Miss."

He was now addressing Bunnie, who was somewhat repulsed by the way the lizard had described her friends.

"Why would th'y ask 'bout meh?" Bunnie questioned. Kevin shrugged.

"Maybe you escaped from them and fell in here by mistake, but now they've tracked you down. We've never seen you here before, so you're probably desperate for a hiding place and lied about living here," he guessed.

"All right, that's enough. Kevin, you were suppose to keep this a secret, remember?" Griff snapped. Kevin cringed at the tone of the goat's voice.

"I was only gonna tell Kaitlyn, no one else. And she heard me talking and those things did ask about someone with her description," Kevin protested, cocking his head at Bunnie.

"That may be so, but I don't want you blabbing this story to anyone else, you hear? It might... cause a panic or paranoia in the colony, and there's no need for that," Griff stated.

"Fine, I suppose," Kevin muttered.

"Good. Now take the hover car back to the garage," Griff instructed.

"Yes, Griff."

Kevin climbed into the hover car and flicked on the engine, jetting out of the tunnel with the three Mobians in tow.

"He's quite th' story tellah," Bunnie said.

"Yeah, he's always been like that. Though Kevin was telling some truth; some of your friends bumped into us near the end of the tunnel. They asked about you, and for me to tell you that they're here," Griff explained.

"So the' know Ah'm heah? Mayeh it'll be bettah if Ah leave now with 'em instead o' tonigh'," Bunnie proposed.

"Oh... I actually sent them away. I thought that you'd want to stick to the original plan," Griff said, looking guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think of that possibility."

Bunnie sighed and nudged Griff in the ribs. "Sugah-goat, wouldja quit beatin' yaself up lahk th't? It ain't yer fault we're in th's mess," she exasperated.

"I know, I know. This is what happens to someone that experiences thirteen years of guilt; they become apologetic for everything," Griff commented, grinning slightly.

"Ah heah ya, th't's wha' mah friend Sally's lahk. It must be a leadah thang."

"So what should we do now?" Kaitlyn interrupted just as they reached the entrance to Lower Mobius. Griff thought about it for a moment.

"How about we head back to my place and have something to eat? While we do that we can figure out exactly what we're going to do tonight," he offered. "After all we have over three hours from now before Lights Out."

"Sounds good," Bunnie said, Kaitlyn agreeing.

"All right, follow me."

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Meanwhile at the first security door in the tunnels the five Rat-Bots had just gathered in front of it after a rather unsuccessful exploration. They had crawled though the small tunnel system the leader that picked up on its scanner, only to find that all the tunnels led to the same dead-end zone. Usually this would not be a problem, as the robots were built as diggers as well as tunnel explorers, but as they began digging it was discovered that the tunnel was unstable, and digging would cause a cave-in that would have trapped the whole pack.

So they had no choice but to turn back, and again discovered another dead-end. Only this time the Rat-Bots were able to overcome the problem.

Two of the minor Rat-Bots activated their tails to their highest level of power, and began hacking at the steel doors, heat produced from the concentrated electricity managing to score though the thick metal after a few strikes to the same area. With the combined effort of the two working Rat-Bots the door eventually gave in to their constant lashing, the metal weakening at the scores.

The two Rat-Bots stopped their whipping and stepped away, giving room to the third minor to take a short run-up and slam its head into the metal, repeating the action until the metal tore away and collapsed. Then in an orderly fashion they lined up, walking through the door in a single line and sticking to the formation as they made their way though the long tunnel, red eyes scrolling to a deeper red as they switched into night-vision mode.

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"Whoa, get a load of this place."

At the main entrance of Lower Mobius three Mobians stood staring in awe. Before them was a whole civilisation, similar to that of Knothole but represented a city more than a village. From their perch various Mobians could be seen either walking or riding in small hover cars high off the ground, some jetting in and out of distant tunnel entrances.

"This... this is incredible. It's amazing that no one knows about this place, yet it's so... advanced!" Rotor cried out.

"Imagine if Knothole was like this. 'Buttnik would never be able to find us; it's obvious that he hasn't found these guys," Sonic remarked.

"Well if everyone is as secretive as that guy we met before I wouldn't be surprised. Imagine living underground and never going to the surface," Rotor said.

"So where should we start looking for Bunnie? This place is huge," Tails asked.

"Got that right, bro. This is gonna be tougher than I first thought," Sonic admitted as he scanned the view. Rotor followed the hedgehog's example, observing the Lower Mobians as they interacted with one another and travelled around the colony.

By doing this he realised that they all seemed to steer clear of a certain area, which with more observations he discovered that it was some sort of Power Station. There were some hover cars that flew to the back of the station, but other than that no other Mobians were in the area. Plus there were a lot of places that could provide some cover in the vicinity, and if they went there they would have perfect view of all the main areas of the colony, as the Power Station was situated directly in the middle.

"How about there, Sonic?" Rotor eventually asked, pointing to the Power Station. Sonic looked, taking in all the details Rotor had discovered, then grinned.

"Perfect, Rote'. Maybe we can sneak into the top to get a better view at the same time. Let's juice before we're spotted."

The two Mobians gripped onto Sonic's shoulders, and once Sonic had picked up Muttski he sped off towards the Power Station, zigzagging through the streets to avoid possible confrontations with any wandering Lower Mobians.

As soon as he reached the boundaries of the station Sonic dived into the first concealed spot he could find, which was under a thick and currently inactive conveyor belt. Sonic dropped off his passengers, giving them time to recover from the fast-paced zigzagging he had done.

"Man, I think you have gotten faster, Sonic," Rotor gasped as dizziness flashed through his head.

"Yeah, I've noticed that, too. Cool, huh?" Sonic grinned, amber eyes brightening with pride.

"Suppose so," Rotor agreed. Sonic cocked his head to one side, finally realising the full effect his speed had on the walrus. Tails appeared somewhat dizzy as well, but seemed to be handling it all right.

"Er, are you gonna be all right?" Sonic asked.

"Oh yeah, just need a minute. Go ahead, I'll be fine," Rotor assured. Sonic hesitated for a moment, eventually nodding.

"All right. Come on Tails, Muttski. We'll be on the other side if you need us, Rote'," Sonic stated as he stood, then began making his way around the conveyor belt with Tails and Muttski in tow.

After a while Rotor recovered from his dizziness with the aid of some water and a couple of bites from his sandwich in his backpack to help settle his stomach. Usually he never got dizzy because of Sonic's speed, years of experience took care of that, but Rotor realised it had happened because he had not eaten all day. Rotor made a mental note to remind Sonic and Tails to eat later, especially Sonic as he was still recovering from his Sleeping Sickness attack he had yesterday, and Rotor still was not sure about all the effects it had on the hedgehog.

Feeling better Rotor stood and dusted off his knees, then began looking around himself. The Power Station was tall, so tall that it reached the ceiling of the cavern. Next to the Watch Tower situated at the top was a large glass shard that glowed with a bright light. As he watched the shard Rotor noticed how the light pulsed every fourth heartbeat. Rotor could not help but stare, amazed by how technologically advanced these Mobians were as he had expected the underground society to be primitive, with out-dated resources and the like. He soon found the mechanic inside him becoming curious as to how this world worked.

Behind him the conveyor belt jolted to life, startling the walrus. Then seemingly out of nowhere a hover car appeared over Rotor and parked itself neat the end of the conveyor belt, where a large container was. Rotor his himself as best as he could when two Mobians, a porcupine and a cat, climbed out of the hover car and moved to the back. Once there they opened the back compartment and began unloading something into the container. After about five minutes the cat slammed the back compartment shut and climbed back into the hover car along with the porcupine, and took off.

Rotor waited a few moments before emerging from his hiding place, then took a look inside the container.

"Whoa," he breathed as he stared at the large pile of crystals inside. They came in all shapes and sizes, and instead of being clear like diamonds they had a murky colour to them, though each one glowed a gentle white.

Gingerly Rotor picked up a large shard, surprised at how heavy it was, and examined it. It reminded him of the Power Stone back home, which was used to create Power Rings for Sonic, and he wondered if they were one in the same.

Rotor decided to show Sonic to see what he thought, and began making his way to the other side of the station.

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Up in the Watch Tower Phil was monitoring the latest crystal shipment when he spotted Rotor snooping around the main container. At first he thought that the walrus was a miner from the crystal caves, as there were many species of Mobians that worked there and the deliverers were always changing, but as Phil followed Rotor he felt his heart skip a beat when Rotor reached into the container and pull out a rather large crystal shard.

"Now what is he up to?" the warthog muttered to him as Rotor looked at the shard then began walking away from the container, crystal still in hand. Phil followed him to the other side of the station, still having a clear view of him thanks to the wide windows that took up most of the walls of the tower, and found Sonic, Tails and Muttski hiding there.

Phil watched the group for a moment, his suspicions rising as Rotor walked over to them. "I've never seen those three before, or that dog," he mumbled to himself. An unsettling feeling grew in the pit of Phil's stomach, paranoia getting the better of him as he reached over for the alarm switch.

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"Hey, Sonic. Look at this," Rotor called as he walked up to Sonic.

"Whatcha got there, Rote'?" Sonic queried, turning away from his post and meeting Rotor in the middle, Tails tagging along. The walrus presented the crystal to Sonic and Tails, making the two gape in awe at the discovery.

"Whoa! Where did you find that?" Tails exclaimed, poking the crystal gently and admiring its inner glow.

"Behind there," Rotor explained. He pointed around the corner of the building. "There's a whole pile of them, and I think those hover cars we saw coming here before have more. I think we've stumbled across some sort of mining industry here, guys."

"But why would they be mining crystals? They couldn't sell them, could they?" Tails questioned.

"Probably not... unless they were mining them for 'Buttnik," Sonic stated.

"What? You think these guys work for Robotnik?" Rotor asked. He handed the crystal to the hedgehog, watching as he held it up to the light and checked every odd angle.

"Probably. See how it's glowing on its own? I think these are like the Power Stone we have back home," Sonic proclaimed. Carefully he slipped the crystal into his backpack. "Let's take it home and show Sal and Uncle Chuck. Maybe they can figure out what it can do exactly, and why these guys and maybe 'Buttnik would want them."

"Maybe this was why that guy was so secretive about this place," Rotor guessed.

"Maybe, and that's why we should get Bunnie out of here. If these guys do work for 'Buttnik then she could be in a lot of danger," Sonic added. "Looks like we're gonna have t--"

Sonic was cut off by the sudden sound of security alarms flooding the underground city, causing them to cover their ears, Muttski howling over the sounds as it pierced his sensitive ears, as the alarm grew sharper. The group watched as panic coursed through the residents that were outdoors. The Mobians then fled to their homes and shelters, steel doors locking down over doors and windows as soon as they entered.

"What's going on?" Tails shouted.

"I think we've been spotted," Sonic shouted back, a pained expression on his face as the alarms were really starting to hurt his ears. "Come on, let's go before--"

"Stay where you are, intruders," a new voice barked, and before they knew it uniformed Mobians, each one holding a rather old looking gun, surrounded them. The alarms died down as the three Mobians raised their hands over their heads.

"Okay, now we're buggered," Sonic commented.

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By this time the handful of functioning SWATbots had reached the last coordinates of the wandering Rat-Bots, only to discover a slight problem.

"Sir, units are unable to reach exact location of set co-ordinations due to unnatural environmental conditions," one SWATbot reported through its wrist communicator.

Back at the Command Centre Robotnik fought the urge to smack his fist into the console. After all the work he had done to fix it he did not want to go through the tedious task for a very long time. The obese Overlander pursed his lips as he thought up a new strategy.

"Stand guard at any weak points you find, Unit two-twenty-five. If any Mobians appear capture them and bring them back to the holding cells alive, do you understand?" Robotnik ordered eventually.

"Affirmative, Sir," the SWATbot confirmed.

"Snively, send a command to the Rat-Bots to lead any sighted Freedom Fighters to the SWATbots' location," Robotnik commanded once his first order had been issued.

"Yes, Sir," Snively said, already finishing off the programming for the order.

Underground the three minor Rat-Bots stopped in their tracks as the command burrowed itself into their processors, overriding their leaders' previously hacked commands. The leaders attempted to stop and scramble the broadcasted command, knowing that somehow their faceless Master has somehow found out about their plans of escape.

"Sir, someone is overriding the commands, and I can only connect with three of the Rat-Bots," Snively reported.

"Who dares?" Robotnik demanded, fist clenching. "It must be a Freedom Fighter, I knew they were hiding underground."

Snively traced the hacker's trail, finding it strange that the path was easy to follow, and was shocked to find that it was the two remaining Rat-Bots. He reported this to his uncle, which resulted with the dictator's fist in the console.

"Freeze the Rat-Bots, lock down their systems and reconfigure their memories, now! Send the three still loyal once to continue with their hunt, I want all these new found tunnels cleared out of any possible Freedom Fighter bases," Robotnik roared.

"Yes, Sir," Snively squeaked, hands shaking as he continued typing.

Back in the tunnels the leading Rat-Bots began twitching as their connection with their pack was cut off and a surge of paralysing electricity coursed through their systems. As their memories became scrambled their bodies shut down simultaneously, their now inactive bodies slamming down to the ground. In the end they became 'brain-dead', the conditioning succeeding in locking down their systems and entering their processors.

"Sir, lock down successful. Complete reconfiguration shall take approximately twenty minutes," Snively reported, quietly cracking his fingers and knuckles after typing so many commands. It may have not looked it, but the two Rat-Bots were able to put up a short fight before Snively could get the shut down command through.

"Excellent, Snively. Make sure all their memories have been completely wiped out before reactivating them," Robotnik ordered.

"Yes, Sir."


	5. Chapter 5

With a sharp shove Griff finally managed to push his door open and stepped outside, watching as more steel doors folded away from other Mobians' doors.

"Wha' th' heck happened?" Bunnie exclaimed as she and Kaitlyn followed Griff out into the main courtyard. Her long ears twitched, still trying to get the ringing sound that echoed through them thanks to the volume of the alarms.

"A security breach, judging by how quickly the alarms were switched off. Whenever the alarms go off everyone in the colony has about three seconds to get into either their homes or the designated shelters we have before the reinforced steel doors lock over the doors and windows. It's another one of our security measures next to the flood gates," Griff explained. "I'm suppose to stay outdoors and help with whatever's happening, but the alarms caught me off guard this time."

"So what was the security breach?" Kaitlyn asked. Griff searched around himself as Mobians began flooding out of their homes, they too looking just as confused as he was. He eventually focussed towards where the Power Station was situated, noticing the crowd that considered of Lower Mobians and uniformed Mobians that had gathered at the base of the station. He went a little closer, spotting three familiar looking Mobians in the centre of the crowd, and felt his heart skip a beat.

"Oh, no," Griff breathed, then took off towards the crowd.

"Griff!" Bunnie and Kaitlyn yelled, then followed the goat.

"-- How did you get in here?" one Mobian was questioning as Griff managed to push his way to the front of the crowd, getting perfect view of what was happening.

"Through the entrance, duh," Sonic answered, flinching when the Mobian cocked his gun at him.

"Stop being a smart-alec. What are you, some kind of mutant?" the Mobian snapped. Sonic growled, eyes narrowing as the quills on his back bristled.

"We're just here looking for a friend, we mean no harm," Rotor yelled before Sonic could snap a remark. "So as soon as we find her we'll be on our way."

"You won't be going anywhere for a while, buddy. We can't let you leave," another Mobian, a short brown fox, stated. Sonic, Tails and Rotor gaped at the fox, then gave each other nervous glances.

"What? But we're--" Sonic began, his voice stumbling. At that point Griff decided to butt in.

"All right, what's going on here?" he questioned, voice taking up an authorised tone. From behind the group of uniformed Mobians Phil stepped up to Griff.

"I spotted these three, including the dog, stealing Power Crystals from our supplies delivered here. I sounded the alarm because I've never seen them around here before either, and felt that they may be intruders," he explained.

"But we weren't stealing anything, honest!" Tails yelped. Phil pushed through the barricade of Mobians and went over to Sonic, grabbing his arm and dragging him to Griff. He then shoved a hand into Sonic's backpack and yanked out the Power Crystal Rotor had showed him earlier.

"Then how did this get into here? It just fell in?" he demanded.

"Let go of me!" Sonic roared, twisting his arm in the warthog's grip. Phil tightened his grip, making Sonic yelp out.

"Hey! Leggo o' mah friend!" Bunnie shrieked, and ran up to the warthog.

"Bunnie," Sonic breathed. Briefly the rabbit gave Sonic a smile, the she regarded Phil, her expression serious.

"Let mah friend go, sugah," Bunnie repeated.

"You heard the lady, Phil. Let him go," Griff stated. Phil gritted his teeth before releasing Sonic. Griff watched as Sonic and Bunnie embraced, reunited at last, then Rotor and Tails followed suite, Muttski barking happily when Bunnie scratched behind his ears in greeting.

"So, what's this all about then, Griff?" Phil questioned. "I know them three and the dog are trespassers, but Bunnie here is an associate of yours. Yet they all know each other."

"They're mutants from the Surface," Kevin shouted. A collective gasp waved through the crowd, and all at once every pair of eyes focussed onto Sonic and the gang. When Griff glared at Kevin the lizard realised his mistake, slapping a scaly hand over his mouth.

"Mutants from the Surface? But life doesn't exist up there!" a voice from within the crowd protested, several more voices agreeing with the statement.

"We're not mutants. We're ordinary Mobians just like you guys," Sonic rebutted.

"You don't look ordinary to me," a black rabbit snapped, pointing at Sonic's eyes.

"Well I am, this happened to me recently but I was an ordinary hedgehog before," Sonic commented, quills bristling.

"But the Surface is toxic, no one could possibly live there," a tawny brown mole stated. All eyes turned to Griff, whom was now looking very nervous. Bunnie gave an apologetic look to the goat, and it took a moment for Griff to realise that the same look was mirrored on Sonic and the others' faces, albeit with hints of guilt and regret.

Then Muttski's ears perked up. His eyes flashed a brighter red as he turned away from the group, a metallic growl bubbling through his throat.

"What's up with him?" Griff questioned. Sonic shook his head and stepped up to the dog.

"I dunno, but he's been doing that a lot today," he explained. Sonic bent to one knee and wrapped his arms around Muttski's neck when he tried to move forward. Muttski then began barking madly, pausing only to snarl.

"What is it, boy? What do you hear?" Sonic asked over Muttski's barking. When the dog paused again to snarl Sonic heard something. He perked up his own ears, cocking them about to pick up the sound again. He grabbed the robotic dog's muzzle to stop him from barking, and heard the noise again.

"Sonic, wha--" Bunnie began, but Sonic shushed her.

"Hear that? That squeaking sound?" he asked eventually.

"I don't hear it..." Tails said, but then his body tensed and he pointed behind Sonic. "But I see something that squeaks!"

Everyone turned in time to see the three large Rat-Bots round the corner and heading towards the group, each squeaking and hissing with a similar metallic ring Muttski had. The Rat-Bots watched the Mobians with a fixed red glare, some snapping their jaws in anticipation.

Slowly, the Mobians began backing away from the robots, Sonic dragging Muttski back by his collar. Behind them they could hear the Lower Mobians beginning to panic.

"These ain't any more o' yer security measurahs, are they, Sugah-goat?" Bunnie enquired, her eyes focussed still on the Rat-Bots. They were now advancing on them, matching their own hesitant steps.

"No, I've never seen these before. Where'd they come from?" Griff stammered.

"They might have come from Robotropolis, but I've never seen 'Buttnik use these before," Sonic guessed. Muttski gave a savage growl and charged at the closet Rat-Bot, recognizing it as the one that had shocked him at their first encounter. The Rat-Bot hissed and swung its blazing tail at the dog, but this time Muttski was ready and managed to jump out of the tail's way, thus causing it to smash into a pile of wooden crates near the scene. Muttski continued to attack the Rat-Bot, running up to it and biting at its jaws whenever it snapped at him, then jump on its back and bite at the back of the robot's head. The Rat-Bot shrieked and flared its head and body like crazy, trying to get Muttski off it.

"What should we do, Griff?"

Griff turned, coming face to face with a massive crowd of Mobians. Phil was the one that had spoken. The goat tensed, glancing back at the Rat-Bots. The dog fighting the intruders had the right idea, and judging by the way Sonic and his friends were watching the scene Griff realised that they two wanted to fight.

"Get the women and children into the main tunnel once we've separated the robots," Griff instructed. Phil eyes widened.

"You mean--" he began, stopping when Griff began to nod.

"We're going to defend our home, we cannot allow these monstrosities to destroy all we have."

"Now yer talkin'," Sonic exclaimed, grinning. "And we're gonna help ya."

Griff turned to Sonic, a grateful look on his face. "Can you get these robots away from here? We need to get everyone into the main tunnel," he asked. The hedgehog gave him the thumbs up.

"No sweat," he confirmed, then ran up to the Rat-Bot Muttski was attacking and kicked it in the head, scrambling its circuits for a second. Muttski jumped off the robot and stood by his master's side, preparing to defend him if he needed to.

"Yo, you have got to be the ugliest 'bot I've ever seen. You're defiantly one of 'Buttnik's," Sonic quipped. The Rat-Bot shrieked and snapped at the hedgehog with its powerful jaws, missing when Sonic ducked away laughing before taking off. Enraged as far as a robot could be the offended Rat-Bot shrieked again and chased after Sonic, the other two Rat-Bots following with the other Freedom Fighters close behind.

"All right, that's perfect. Phil, take everyone to the main tunnel," Griff ordered as he pulled out the control to the main gate and handed it to the warthog. Then he yelled, "Whoever is willing to stay behind and help Sonic and his friends save our home grab what you can and follow me."

About ten from the thirty-odd citizens stayed behind, including Kaitlyn and Kevin, and armed themselves with broken pieces of wood that was scattered around the border of the Power Station, then made their way to the main courtyard where Sonic and the Freedom Fighters were fighting the Rat-Bots. Swallowing their fears the Lower Mobians raised their makeshift weapons and charged at the robots.

The fight was short, but not without its tragedies. Due to the Lower Mobians' lack of experience in hand-to-hand combat, or any form of combat, they were easily overpowered by the Rat-Bots.

At one point of the battle Kevin was overcome because of his clumsy manoeuvres, and was forced against the wall that formed half of the main courtyard. The Rat-Bot towered over the fallen lizard, red eyes focussed on its prey as it activated its tail. Kevin felt his heart swell up in his throat when the robot swivelled around in a full circle, but at the very last second Kevin was able to gather his wits and duck.

The heated appendage missed the lizard by half a millimetre, but it did manage to slice through the thick pipe that was attached to the wall. The hole created allowed the natural gas to hiss out, filling the air with its toxic smell. But neither the Rat-Bot nor Kevin paid any heed as their little hunt was still on.

The Rat-Bot gave another shriek, the sound ringing through Kevin's ears, and once again the robot spun around. Kevin flattened himself against the ground and squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that dumb luck would not help twice, and waited for the pain to consume him.

But when the pain never came the lizard allowed his eyes to sliver open, and he felt his jaw slacken. In front of him was Kaitlyn, standing stock still between him and the Rat-Bot. It took him a moment to realise that the fox was so still because low levels of electricity was buzzing through her. The Rat-Bot had struck Kaitlyn at her artificial leg, the metal conducting the electricity into her body, but to further Kaitlyn's predicament the Rat-Bot's tail had sliced right through the leg, cutting it just above the knee.

When the electricity finally died out Kaitlyn collapsed with a faint sigh, hitting the ground twitching. Kevin crawled to her side and scooped her up into his arms, shaking her.

"Kaitlyn! Kaitlyn, wake up," he cried, heart pounding. A shriek from the Rat-Bot distracted Kevin, at the same time reminding him that there was still a fight happening. Yet he could not bring up the courage to move, let alone attack the robot.

"Someone help," Kevin screamed as the Rat-Bot drew nearer, jaws snapping.

"Leave those kids alone, sugah!" someone yelled, and a second later two metallic feet ploughed into the robot's head, crushing it against the wall. The Rat-Bot collapsed to the ground, head long gone and sparks flying out of its exposed neck. Bunnie retracted her robotic legs, then ran up to Kevin and Kaitlyn.

"Y'all all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine, but Kaitlyn was hit," Kevin explained breathlessly. Bunnie nodded and scooped up the now-unconscious fox into her arms.

"Sugah-hog, we've got an injured Mobian heah!" Bunnie hollered as she ran. Sonic was in the middle of the courtyard helping Griff and a couple of other Mobians that had gotten in over their heads with two Rat-Bot, which had teamed up against the flocking Mobians. Tails was there with him, throwing rocks at the robot to keep its attention away from Sonic while he prepared to finish off the battle with a final spin dash.

"I'm on it, Bunnie," Sonic called, then smashed into one of the robots as a ball of spinning quills. This caused a small explosion, knocking down any nearby Mobians that were not prepared. As the dazzled Mobians picked themselves up Sonic ran over to Bunnie and took Kaitlyn, then sped off to the main tunnel and deposited her there before racing back to the fight. A few moments later the last Rat-Bot was taken out, reduced to scrap metal.

"All right, we did it," Tails exclaimed.

"It was a cakewalk, but fun," Sonic grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "Everyone okay?"

The Mobians that were involved in the fight confirmed their well being with a low murmur as they dusted themselves off.

"They're gonna be sore in the morning, maybe we should teach them a few moves when it comes to robo' bustin'," Sonic suggested.

"Or maybe just some fighting moves period," Rotor commented.

"It was that obvious that we've never been involved in a fight before?" Griff questioned as he wiped a hoofed paw over his forehead.

"Oh no, hardly noticed," Sonic retorted, looking up to the ceiling with sudden interest. Griff cringed.

"Perhaps we could work on that. For now, though, I think it's safe for everyone to return to their homes."

Griff looked around for any damage to the colony, thankful that there was not any until he spotted the stumbling Rat-Bot Bunnie had attacked. He went to warn Sonic about it, but then noticed the cut gas pipe, and how dangerously close the live wires from the Rat-Bot's exposed neck were.

"No, get away from there!" Griff bellowed, running over. Bunnie saw the danger when Griff yelled, and extended her arm and grabbed the goat by the scruff of his neck.

"Get back heah, Sugah-Goat, or you'll be blow to smithereens," Bunnie warned as she pulled back her extended arm along with Griff. Just as Bunnie's arm clicked back into place the Rat-Bot ventured close enough to the escaping gas for the electricity to spark it alight. At once a flush of flames flowed up and along the pipe, the heat causing to the pipe to explode.

Everyone shielded their eyes as rock and metal sprayed in all directions, each piece of shrapnel carrying a tiny flame. The fire continued climbing along the pipes and spreading itself across the colony, hitting apartments and stalls that had connections with the pipe. In less than three minutes everything surrounding the courtyard was on fire.

"No!" Griff screamed, before the black smoke resulting from the fires began choking him and the other Mobians. Because there was no ventilation in the cavern, and all the tunnels save for the main one were sealed after the Rat-Bots had invaded, the smoke had little to no escape and began to build up. The air reeked of smoke and natural gas, making it hard to breathe.

"We have to get out of here," Sonic informed. He began walking through the bellowing smoke, gathering everyone he could find. "Everyone hold hands, I'll lead you out."

"Come on, Griff. We'all gotta go," Bunnie urged, tugging at the goat's hand. But all he did was stare at the fires, watching it destroy everything that he was meant to protect. His grandfather never anticipated any large fires to break out under here, so they had no system for such an occurrence. Griff was helpless.

"Griff!" Bunnie snapped, but it was no use. Gritting her teeth the cyborg rabbit gripped Griff's hand in a vice-like hold and dragged him away, then joined hands with the last Mobian in the line Sonic had formed just as the hedgehog began leading them out with Muttski's help.

Once they were in the main tunnel Phil used the control Griff gave him earlier to close the main doors. Griff watched through the closing doors his home and his grandfather's legacy explode in pods of flames before the doors slammed shut, plunging all the Mobians into darkness and cutting off what smoke had reached them.

Rotor fumbled with his tool belt and pulled out his flashlight, flicking it on and passing it to Griff. The goat shone the light over the crowd, taking in all the horrified looks on everyone's faces and noting with a heavy heart that they reflected exactly how he felt. He drew in a deep breath, forcing the lump in his throat to dissolve before he spoke.

"Is everyone all right?" he called out, voice echoing in the cavern. Several murmurs answered him, some braving to shout the affirmative in words. All in all the Lower Mobians seemed all right, albeit shaken by the current events.

"Good, well done everyone. Just stay where you are and try to stay calm," Griff instructed. Sounds of people shuffling into new positions could be heard for a few minutes, then the tunnel fell into an almost complete silence.

Bunnie began pushing her way to the middle of the tunnel, trying to find where Sonic was. The only indication she had on the hedgehog's location was the glow of his amber eyes, but because there were other Mobians in there with similar eyes to him it made things a little more difficult. She eventually found Sonic standing with Rotor, Tails and Muttski against the wall, and she squeezed herself next to him.

"Sugah-hog, wheredja leave Kaitlyn?" she asked. Sonic grunted when someone shoved their elbow into his ribs, and he wormed away from his position to avoid another jab.

"Near the entrance, there's like a little notch there so I slipped her in it. Hopefully no one's crushed her, everyone here seems to not know how to stand still," Sonic informed, before yelping out as another elbow found his ribs. He glared at the direction the elbow came from, then took Bunnie's hand and guided her through the darkness, golden eyes reflecting as they darted about.The two Mobians found Kaitlyn where Sonic had stated moments later, and Bunnie knelt down beside the fox and tried to revive her, as she was still unconscious.

"It might be a while before she comes to, Bun. Maybe we should take her back home and get her checked out, just in case," Sonic offered when Bunnie's efforts proved useless. "That is if we can get her back to the top safely."

"What? There are more of your up there?" a Mobian behind Sonic exclaimed, disbelief dripping from their disembodied voice. Instantly everyone in the cavern began talking, some crowding the Freedom Fighters and throwing questions at them three per half breath.

"Everyone, please calm down," Griff yelled when everyone began pushing and moving about in their attempts to get to each Freedom Fighter. But when the goat called out all eyes turned to him, and if there was more light in the tunnel he would have seen that most were glaring.

"You knew about these Mobians, Griff. So you knew about life on the Surface as well, didn't you?" one Mobian demanded, pointing an accusing finger at their leader. Griff stumbled with his words, heart racing from the question.

"I... I can explain," he fumbled eventually, but had no idea how he was going to.

"How long did you know about this? You wanted everyone to stay underground because you had control over us, admit it," the same Mobian snapped, followed by a chorus of yelled demands by the other Lower Mobians. Griff tried to back away from the crowd, wishing that the ground would swallow him so he could escape. Then Bunnie stepped in front of the goat.

"Y'all should be ashamed of yerselves, Griff was only doin' wha' his daddy 'nd grand-daddy asked him ta. And he was protectin' th' lot of ya," she scowled.

"Stay out of this, Surface-Dweller, this has nothing to do with you."

"Th's has plenty ta do with meh, sugah. Because y'all 'bout ta lynch a friend o' mine 'nd Ah'm not gonna let th'at happen, y'heah?"

With that said Bunnie clenched her robotic hand into a fist and braced her legs, her pose telling all that if they wanted to get to Griff they would have to go through her first. Then Sonic, Tails, Rotor and Muttski pushed their way through to the two Mobians, forming a protective circle around Griff.

"And if you want to lynch our friend Bunnie here, you're gonna have to answer to us as well," Sonic remarked, a wicked grin on his lips.

Several growls bubbled around the group as the rougher members of the colony inched closer to them, seemingly taking up Bunnie and Sonic's challenges. The Freedom Fighters slunk back and tightened their circle around Griff to keep him protected.

"Ugh, maybe we should have waited until we got top-side before throwing dares like that," Sonic proclaimed.

"But then we would be able to see when they do rip us apart. I knew I shouldn't have kept any secrets, this is a disaster," Griff moaned.

"Uh, Sonic? Griff? I think we have a bigger problem," Rotor exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, like what?" Sonic responded. Rotor simply pointed.

"That!"

In the darkness that increased near the distance of the tunnel two pairs of glowing red eyes shone, the air around them filled with metallic hisses. When Griff shone the flashlight on the eyes the light revealed them to belong to two more Rat-Bots, only these ones were much bigger than the ones the Lower Mobians had conflicted with before.

The two Rat-Bots approached at the same agonisingly slow rate their minors did, the gears in their joints shrieking as loud as their hisses. Snively had been successful in reconfiguring their memories, although he was unable to totally wipe out what records they had gathered since their reactivation. So security codes had been set up while the robots were in stand-by mode, so they could not access the locked away information.

The Rat-Bots had become something they did not want to be any more, nothing but slaves to a master they have never seen, and said master had forced only one command into their mutated brains:

Hunt and gather.

Upon sighting the Rat-Bots everyone began pushing themselves back as far as they could, pushing Mobians down and almost crushing anyone that did not move fast enough. The darkness added to their panic, bringing up the fear that there could be more robots lurking around them and they did not know it.

"We need to get out of here before we're crushed," Griff muttered. "Where's Phil? I need to get the controls for the doors off him."

"I wouldn't do that, the doors are way past hot. That means if you open them now we're gonna be barbequing tonight," Sonic warned.

"So what should we do? We can't fight those things in here, we'll be killed for sure," Griff protested.

"What's going on? Griff? Bunnie?" a small voice murmured from the back, somehow managing to be heard over the noise.

"Kaitlyn!" Bunnie cried, and shoved her way through to where the fox was. Kaitlyn was sitting up, what light in the tunnel revealing that she had a pained expression on her face and her hand was resting on what was left of her false leg. Bunnie bit her lip at the sight.

"Kaitlyn, dear. Are ya all right?" she questioned. Kaitlyn nodded, then held her head as waves of dizziness washed through her.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Help me stand, it's hot over here," she remarked. Bunnie looped her arms around Kaitlyn's torso and pulled her up, letting the fox lean against her. As she did this Bunnie told Kaitlyn what had happened in the colony and about the approaching Rat-Bots in the tunnel. Kaitlyn looked over the crowd as best as she could, her height proving useless against the taller adults in front of her, and just managed to see the floating red eyes of the robots. An idea came to her.

"Bunnie," Kaitlyn whispered, "The digging machine."

"Wha' 'bout it, Sugah-fox?" Bunnie questioned.

"It should be strong enough to push the robots back. Then we can dig our way out to the Surface," Kaitlyn explained.

"But would Bradley have repaired it by now?"

"He should have, he's pretty quick with repairs."

Bunnie hesitated. She could not move through the crowd as the Mobians continued to push back, and the darkness frightened her as she could easily lose Kaitlyn in the crowd, and with her missing leg she would be crushed by the panicking Mobians.

"Think, Bunnie, think," she urged, eyes darting. Then an idea struck. "Sugah-hog, c'mere fer a sec!"

In an instant Sonic's eyes appeared next to Bunnie.

"What's up, Bunnie?" he asked.

"Kaitlyn's got 'n idea ta get rid of th' Rat-Bots, but Ah can't see a dang thang. Can you take her to th' diggin' machine th't's in th's tunnel?" she requested.

"Sure, if she can tell me how to get to it," Sonic confirmed. Bunnie slipped Kaitlyn into Sonic arms, and the fox told Sonic about the tunnel built into the wall up ahead. Thankfully the Rat-Bots had not reached it yet, but they were getting closer.

Once Kaitlyn was secure Sonic took a couple of steps back, then leapt up as far as he could, angling himself towards the wall. His advanced night-vision, along with what little light that came from Griff's flashlight bouncing off the few reflective rocks in the walls, allowed Sonic to see where the wall was without smashing into it first. As soon as his feet touched the wall Sonic was running, making it to the opening of the tunnel in less than a second.

"All the way down, right?" Sonic asked as he landed inside.

"Yep, you'll see a light when you get near it, if the power hasn't been knocked out from the Power Station," Kaitlyn said.

"All right, hang on tight 'cause we're gonna be juicin'," Sonic warned before taking off down the black tunnel.

Back in the main tunnel Bunnie and Rotor were fighting off the advancing Rat-Bots, Rotor using what limited tools he had brought with him as weapons. But the fight proved to be futile as their only guide to where the Rat-Bots were was their glowing red eyes. To make matters worse Griff had discovered that smoke was starting to seep through the cracks of the doors as a slow rate. So they had to get rid of the Rat-Bots, get out of the tunnel and somehow get above-ground before they all suffocated.

"Th's is gettin' nowhere fast," Bunnie yelled as she narrowly ducked the snapping jaws of the Rat-Bot that had blindsided her. Her ears twitched at the sound of Rotor's wrench slamming into the robot's head, the sound followed close by a pseudo-pain filled scream from the Rat-Bot.

"I know, but we have to try and keep them back at least," Rotor retorted before swinging his wrench again. A loud clang confirmed that the blow hit, but then Rotor was head-butted from behind by the second Rat-Bot, causing the walrus to stumble to the ground.

The Rat-Bot swung around and glared at the offending Freedom Fighter, then dived at Rotor. Rotor slipped away from the robot and scrambled to the wall, for the moment losing it to the darkness as it focussed on Bunnie. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the danger Bunnie was now in, and began to frantically paw at the ground for his missing wrench. Then something brushed passed him, three somethings to be exact, and a second later repeated clangs could be heard along with loud barking.

Rotor blinked, not understanding what was happening until he realised that there were now three red glows in the tunnels. For a fleeting moment Rotor thought that there was another Rat-Bot lurking in the shadows, but then he noted with relief that the third red glow was coming from Muttski's eyes.

Rotor watched as the dog used the light from his eyes as a sort of flashlight to focus on the Rat-Bots, then seemingly out of nowhere Griff charged at one of the robots and swung the wrench into its head with an aggravated force, then would disappear into the darkness and Tails would take his place, using rocks he had found embedded in the earth as his weapon of choice.

"Whoa, now that's team work," Rotor breathed, a small grin on his face.

"Rotah, y'all all right?" Bunnie asked as she appeared in front of him, flashlight in her hand. Griff must have given it to her before he got into the fight, Rotor mused to himself.

"Yeah, fine. But what's taking Sonic and your friend so long?" he rebutted as Bunnie took his hand and helped him stand.

"Whaddya mean '_what's taking Sonic so long'_? I never take long to do anything," Sonic quipped, startling Rotor and Bunnie as they did not see, or hear the hedgehog come up to them.

"Everyone better move back, unless you want to be squished something fierce," Sonic informed, then took Rotor and Bunnie's hands and helped them back down the tunnel as Griff, Tails and Muttski too retreated. The Rat-Bots also followed the small group, still angered by the attacks, but when Sonic looked back he gave a short laugh.

"Oh this is gonna be fun to watch," he commented, and stopped running.

"Are ya crazah, Sugah-Hog? Yer gonna git skinned alive," Bunnie screamed. Sonic merely winked at his friend, his grin widening when the Rat-Bots stopped moving.

"Listen," the hedgehog said. Bunnie gave him a sceptical look but did as she was told.

At first she could not hear anything, nor did the others, but then the grinding of gears and the roar of an engine soon flooded the cavern. Two bright lights penetrated the inky darkness and shone down onto the two Rat-Bots, before the hulking shape of the digging machine came into view, Kaitlyn at the controls along with Bradley, who throughout the whole time was in the hanger at the end of the built-in tunnel.

The Rat-Bots shrieked as the machine rolled out into the tunnel, blocking their pursue towards the attacking Mobians. With a click of the throttle and a quick revolve of the treadmill wheels Kaitlyn and Bradley drove the machine towards the robots at a surprisingly fast rate. The Rat-Bots barely got a foot twisted in the opposite direction before they were torn apart by the large drill attached to the front of the machine, the pieces then being crushed under the wheels as the machine continued to roll forward.

When the last piece was crushed Bradley switched off the engine, leaving the headlights on.

"It's all right, folks. You're safe from those things now," he announced.

"Thank you," Griff commended, "But we still need to get out of here before the smoke gets in."

The goat pointed down the tunnel, where at the end the ceiling had been consumed by a thin layer of black smoke, and as the Mobians watched the layer began to build up. Some Mobians had started coughing due to the smoke, signifying that their air supply was already short.

"Don't worry, we've got that bit covered too, Griff," Kaitlyn stated, then flicked on the engine again and took the controls, activating the smaller drill donned on top of the digging machine. Carefully she directed the mechanical appendage to the ceiling, the tip chipping into the thick rock and dirt.

"Better take cover, this'll get a bit messy," Kaitlyn warned over the noise as fragments of rock and dirt began flying everywhere.

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Above ground the earth was shaking in result of Kaitlyn's digging. Massive cracks snapped through the land, breaking apart what was left on the surface and causing the SWATbots patrolling the area to lose their footing and fall, some being crushed by falling debris. Needless to say the disturbance did not go unnoticed by Doctor Robotnik, who was watching the area with the help of his cameras.

"Snively, what is going on?" he demanded, glaring down at his nephew.

"It... It appears to be another earthquake, Sir," Snively reported. Sweat beaded all over Snively's head as Robotnik growled through clenched teeth.

"Where are my Rat-Bots? See if there is something causing the earthquake, there is no way this can be an aftershock," Robotnik bellowed. The thought of his city being disabled again made the obese Overlander's blood boil, and the nagging feeling that the Freedom Fighters were somehow causing the tremors made him see red.

Snively accessed the Rat-Bots' on-board cameras, but came up with nothing, not even greyscale static.

"All Rat-Bot units seem to be disabled, Sir," Snively informed, mentally bracing himself. With a loud roar Robotnik slammed his fist into a nearby console, breaking its surface and deactivating three of his monitors, including the one that was showing the recent disturbance.

"If my city loses power again, you will be working on getting it back up even if it takes you months," Robotnik hissed at Snively, the red in his eyes glowing menacingly.

"Y-y-y-y... yes, Sir," Snively gulped.

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About five minutes later Kaitlyn finished drilling through the earth, creating a hole about six feet wide in the tunnel's ceiling, and switched off the engine. The limited sunlight that could pierce through Robotropolis' aura of smog and toxic fumes poured into the hole, acting like a beacon to the trapped Mobians.

By then the smoke had built up enough to be a choking hazard to the Mobians, although a handful were still able to breathe with only mild discomfort.

"That should be big enough for everyone to get through," Kaitlyn proclaimed as she dusted off her paws. Then she realised a flaw in her plan. "Though... how is everyone going to get up? I'm not sure if everyone can climb."

"Now this we can handle," Sonic commented, then climbed up the machine. When he reached the platform he crouched down, folding his legs underneath him and tensing them, then leapt up into the opening and dug his claws in the dirt. But his weight caused him to slip down slightly before he got a good hold of the frail earth, but Sonic caught himself before he could fall.

"Ooo-wee, Sugah-hog! A bit o' a klutz fer a cat, aintcha?" Bunnie exclaimed, grinning at her friend.

"Oh be quiet before I use you as a scratching post," Sonic scowled, although he too was grinning. He revved up his legs and up along the wall of the hole, spraying dirt behind him and disappearing in a blink of an eye. Once Sonic was on the surface he pulled out a rope from his backpack and secured one end of it around a still-standing pole of cement, then tossed down the other end.

"Does it reach?" he called.

"Yep, with plenty o' rope ta spare," Bunnie called back.

"Cool." Sonic jumped down the hole again, landing bent-kneed to cushion his landing.

"All right, let's get everyone out of here."

It took about half an hour to get all the Lower Mobians out the tunnel with the combined efforts of the Freedom Fighters. As each Mobian reached solid ground they would either stare in awe at their new surroundings, taking in every detail even when the limited natural light began to sting their sensitive eyes, or just sat around and glared at the new world as if cursing its existence. Griff was the last to get out as he still kept his duty as leader and made sure all were present and well, even if some did not wish the same onto him.

The goat looked around the city, noting all the destruction the area held due to Kaitlyn's digging. He could only imagine what the rest of the city looked like, and felt his heart fall.

"You know, this place actually looks better thanks to you guys," Sonic informed off-handedly. Griff gave a mirthless laugh.

"So you figured out we were the ones that caused the 'earthquakes'?" he said.

"Yeah well, you do have to wonder how an underground colony survives an earthquake without any damage. I mean you guys would have been more affected than us," Sonic explained. "Besides, the ruckus that machine of yours caused kinda gave it away."

"True, that is true I suppose." Griff sighed and pawed at his eyes. "I am sorry about any damage we've caused in your village. I should have checked the area personally before I went ahead with the digs," Griff offered. Sonic rubbed the back of his neck in thought, a smirk eventually crossing his lips.

"Well I suppose it was an honest mistake, from the sounds of things you don't get much time to go for a walk in the fresh air. And we do owe you one for looking after Bunnie when she was hurt," he said. "Although you might want to explain that to Sal, so how about coming to our village for a bit?"

Griff turned to look at the Lower Mobius citizens. Some still held the betrayed expression that seemed to have plastered itself to their faces since exiting the tunnels; some seemed just confused and dazed. Hardly any of them could keep eye contact with the goat without looking away scornfully. His heart sank.

"I don't think I can, Sonic. I've got a lot of making up to do here, and it might take a while. So perhaps some time in the future I can," he sighed.

"No! Go for it, Griff," a voice suddenly cried. The crowd of Mobians began murmuring amongst themselves as a path in the group began forming, cause by a Mobian making their way through. It took the Mobians a moment to realise that it was Kaitlyn. They fell into silence as the fox limped her way to Griff. Bunnie smiled, as Kevin was helping Kaitlyn to walk. The lizard had a bashful expression on his face as he walked with the fox, not because he was ashamed to be seen with her, but because he seemed to want to help Kaitlyn any way he could to make up for her risking her life for him, even after all the torment he had put Kaitlyn through over the years.

"Go, Griff. We were bound to be discovered sooner or later," Kaitlyn commented once she had reached the goat. "Besides, if the Freedom Fighters hadn't found us, and we were attacked by those robots? We could have been killed."

She bowed her head, but Griff realised that she was staring down at her missing leg.

"We can't keep this up any more, Griff. We need help now that our home's been practically destroyed," Kaitlyn finalised.

The fox was right, Griff decided, they could not keep this up any longer. With the tunnels leaking gas like that it could lead to an eco-disaster, not just for the under-dwellers but also for whatever was directly above the colony. And Griff already had enough guilt riding on his shoulders.

Griff faced Sonic. "If I do come with you, would you be able to help us?" he asked. Sonic quickly glanced at the Freedom Fighters.

"I think we can spare some supplies. I'll check with Sal first, but we might also be able to bring in a few Animals with us while you talk with her, we should be able to find somewhere for everyone to stay for a while," he proposed. "Does that sound fair to you?"

Griff thought about it for a moment, every so often looking at the group. "Yeah, sounds very fair to me."

He grabbed Sonic's hand and shook it.

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"All I can say is when Sonic does get back I'm going to strangle him."

From a safe distance Uncle Chuck and Antoine watched as the Princess stalked in a straight line, paused for a heartbeat once she had reached the end of the room, then about-face and stalk along the same line, repeating the process. She had been doing this for the last three hours, only speaking when she had thought up a new threat towards Sonic upon his return.

"He probably got held up somewhere. I'm sure by now Robotropolis has most of its power back on-line, and all the surviving SWATbots are back in operation and are making things difficult for Sonic and the others," Uncle Chuck offered.

"For three hours? I don't think so," Sally exasperated, again pausing to turn. "If anything I bet Sonic managed to convince Rotor and Tails to stay out longer to find Bunnie, which is all well and good because I know his heart is in the right place, but as usual his brain isn't."

"'ave you tried contacting heem, moi Prinzess?" Antoine questioned, nervously biting his bottom lip.

"Several times, but there's some sort of interference blocking the signal," Sally responded. She stopped, keeping still for the first time, and swept her forelock out of her eyes.

"Unless Sonic switched off his communicator and the others' so that I couldn't reach him to make them come back."

The ground squirrel's eyes narrowed, and she began pacing again. "If Sonic did that I'm going to break his legs."

"For once I am being worried for zee 'edge'og. By zee time moi Prinzess is done wit' heem he will not be alive," Antoine whispered to Uncle Chuck.

"I'm sure Sonic will have a good reason for being so late. It might be a good idea to let him explain it before you cause any bodily harm to him," Uncle Chuck suggested.

"He better have a good reason. Of all the irresponsible things to do... this is much worse than those times Sonic used to go on 'solo missions' when he was a kid," Sally hissed. Antoine nodded, agreeing with Sally.

"Oui, oui. I remembaire t'ose missions." To Uncle Chuck he explained, "Zhere was one stage where Sonique was missing for almost three weeks, you know."

"Don't remind me, I nearly went nuts that time," Sally sighed as she rubbed at her eyes, the memories from those times flooding back a little too quickly for her liking.

At that point her communicator sparked to life, static flowing through the speaker like rushing water. All present stared at the little device as the static drained out and a clearer reception came through. Everyone tensed their ears, because they were not sure about it, but they thought that they could hear voices coming through.

Their suspicions were confirmed in the form of Sonic's voice as he spoke directly into his communicator.

"Can anyone hear me? Stupid piece of junk's gone all weird on me," Sonic commented. Sally dived for the communicator and flicked on the receiver.

"Yes, we can hear you. Are you all right?" Sally questioned, heart thundering in her chest as her anticipation grew.

"Hi, Sal. Yeah I'm cool, so is everyone else. Hey everyone, say hi to Sally," Sonic called. At once multiple voices greeted the Princess, and she was surprised at just how many there were. She could not help but smile, tightly but with just a little mirth, at Sonic's tomfoolery.

"See? We're all good, how 'bout you?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, fine. Just fine," Sally responded. She had now adopted Sonic's casual attitude towards the conversation, but she was scrapping her claws along the top of her desk, telling Uncle Chuck and Antoine that she still had evil intentions for the hedgehog when he came home.

"Can you tell me what's going on? It sounded like there was a lot of people there before," Sally questioned.

"That's because there is, Sal. You're not gonna believe it but we found a whole community under Robotropolis. They've been living there since the Great War, apparently. Weird, huh?" Sonic explained.

Sally blinked, not sure if she could believe the hedgehog. Even Uncle Chuck and Antoine appeared undecided about what Sonic had just said.

"Oh, and we found Bunnie, too. She's okay; she was underground with these guys and they looked after her," Sonic added.

"Let me talk to her," Sally demanded quickly, her heart skipping a beat at Bunnie's name.

"'kay, just a sec..."

There was a brief pause, the only thing stopping complete silence from being present was a few faint murmurs in the background. Then:

"Hey, Sally-girl. How are ya?"

Sally gave a sigh of relief, excitement overwhelming her as Bunnie voiced her trademark greeting to her.

"Bunnie, you're okay," was all Sally could say as an emotional lump welled up in her throat.

"'course Ah'm okay. Ah'm a tough li'le bunny, y'all know th't!" Bunnie remarked, voice cheerful. Then for a second Bunnie started talking to Sonic in a low whisper, but from what Sally could hear it sounded like the hedgehog was giving Bunnie some instructions.

"Sugah-hog told meh to tell ya ta meet us in th' Great Forest, we'all got some mattahs to work out before we come home," Bunnie informed after a moment. "Is th't all right?"

"Yes, yes that's fine. We'll meet you there soon, please keep in touch if you need anything," Sally stated, feeling sad that they had to close contact so soon.

"Shure thang, Sally-girl. See ya soon," Bunnie said before sighing off. Sally clicked off her communicator and stared at Uncle Chuck and Antoine, a confused look on her face.

"No what matters would Sonic want to talk about now?" she questioned. Uncle Chuck simply shrugged.

"Don't know, but we can only find out by doing what he asked," he commented.

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When Sally reached the centre of the Great Forest she was shocked at just how many Mobians were waiting there. They all stared at the Princess, appearing just a shocked to see her. When Uncle Chuck and Antoine turned up the strange Mobians' shock increased, their gazes glued onto the three Mobians.

Slowly Sally made her way through the crowd as Uncle Chuck and Antoine stayed behind, trying hard not to stare back at the various animals that surrounded her. They were all dead silent, which made the ground squirrel feel nervous.

"Yo, Sal. Over here," Sonic called out, which jump-started Sally's heart. She looked around the crowd, finally spotting Sonic on the other side of the group, and ran up to the hedgehog and embraced him.

"Are you all right?" Sally said as she broke the embrace and pecked Sonic on his cheek. Sonic smirked at the kiss and returned it, nuzzling Sally for a second.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I already told you that. You should be worrying about Bunnie, she was the one that went missing," he remarked. He stepped away from the Princess and allowed her to walk over to where Bunnie was standing. Bunnie gave Sally a small wave.

"Hiya, Sally-girl," she greeted.

"Hi, Bunnie," Sally returned before hugging her friend, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. "I was so worried."

"Aw, Sally-girl. Y'all didn't need ta worry, Ah was fine," Bunnie commented. Sally pulled away from the rabbit and ran a hand over the bandage that was still wrapped around her head.

"But what happened here?" Sally questioned. Bunnie reached up and touched the bandage. She had forgotten that she had it.

"Jerst a bad knock, it's all right," she assured. Behind them Sonic coughed quietly, getting the girls' attention.

"I hate to break up this little reunion, but Sal there's someone that would like to have a few words with you. If that's all right, of course," Sonic informed. He cocked his head behind Sally, and when she turned she found Griff standing behind her, his hoofed paw stretched out in greeting.

"Hello, I'm Griff. You must be Sally," he greeted. Sally took the goat's hand, staring at the hooves that were at the end of his fingers, and shook it.

"Yes, that's right." She looked back at Sonic. "I'm guessing that this is the matter you wanted to sort out."

"Got it in one, Sal," Sonic grinned. "He's the leader of the underground colony we found."

"Oh, I see. Well, welcome to the Great Forest," Sally smiled.

"Thank you, we're very honoured to be here," Griff stated. "Now your friend Sonic told me that you might want to know about us in detail, and that perhaps you would be able to help us with our current predicament."

"That would be nice, thank you. And I'll see what I can do to help. Umm..."

Sally looked back at the Mobians gathered behind her, then to Bunnie. "First, we should get Bunnie home to look after that wound. Is anyone else injured?"

"Just one, her name is Kaitlyn. She's with the rest of the crowd," Griff informed.

"All right, Rotor can you take Bunnie and Kaitlyn back to the village, please? And we should set up some sleeping gear for everyone here... Tails can you go with Uncle Chuck and Antoine and grab as many sleeping bags and blankets you can find in the supply shed?"

Rotor and Tails nodded and set off to do their tasks.

"While we do that you and me can talk here, Griff. Though if you don't mind I'll need a minute alone," Sally added.

"Of course, I'll be looking around here, whenever you're ready we can start," Griff stated, then with a quick nod of his head he walked into the forest, disappearing between the trees as he went further in.

"Want me to do anything, Sal?" Sonic offered once the goat had disappeared from their sights.

"Hold still," Sally simply stated. Sonic cocked his head to one side, looking completely lost.

"Hold still? What for?" he queried.

"This."

Before Sonic had a chance to react Sally had lashed out her hand and had grabbed Sonic's ear in a vice-like hold, squeezing it as hard as she could. Sonic cried out as Sally twisted his ear and pulled it down, making him bend to lessen the pain. After a minute she let him go, and watched with slight amusement as Sonic tried to regain feeling in his ear.

"For disobeying my orders and making me worry so much about you," she explained before Sonic could speak, then walked towards the direction Griff disappeared to. Sonic pawed at his sore ear and snorted.

"Girls," he muttered.

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Two days later found the Lower Mobians back in the underground colony. The fire had died out hours after they had all escaped, the lack of oxygen and the smouldering dirt aiding with the fire's dismissal. There was not a lot of damage to the settlement itself, save for the damaged gas pipes and the scorch marks that now scarred the stone apartments.

From the Watch Tower on top of the Power Station Griff watched everyone as they went through their apartments and cleaned the burnt stone that formed their apartments, using supplies Knothole Village had kindly given them, along with some willing volunteers from said village.

So much had happened over the last two days, which included the new alliance between Lower Mobius and Knothole Village that Sally and Griff had set up. And in return for the help Sally had proved Griff had offered his services towards the resistance against Robotnik, which Sally had happily accepted.

There was still tension between some of the citizens of Lower Mobius and Griff, though it had lessened quite a bit over the two days. Griff believed it was because they had something else to occupy themselves with, and that they were able to return to their homes without too much hassle. Griff hoped that they would not stay mad at him for long, as he did explain about his father's final wish to him, and what had happened during his grandfather's time underground.

"Hey, Griff," a voice greeted from behind him. The goat turned, coming face to face with Kaitlyn. She was currently in crutches, as her artificial leg had yet to be replaced, but she seemed happy enough without it. Rotor and Uncle Chuck were working on building the fox a new leg, one that would be much stronger and realistic than her old one, but the process was slow due to their limited supplies for the project.

"Hi, Kaitlyn. Everything okay with you?" Griff asked. Kaitlyn nodded, smiling slightly.

"A few of my things got destroyed in the fire, but nothing overly important so no big loss," she stated. "You?"

"Same old, same old."

He turned back to watch the Mobians go about their business, wondering what life would be like now that they knew about life above ground. Would it be better, or worse than life here isolated, but living in peace, for so many years?

"Hey, Griff?"

"Yeah, Kaitlyn?"

"You... you want to walk with me top-side? Bunnie showed me this beautiful river in the Great Forest, I think you might like it," Kaitlyn offered. Griff thought about it for a moment, then turned and smiled at Kaitlyn.

"I'd love to. Thank you."

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Completed Sunday, 30 November 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------


End file.
